GL D VII 4.1 Stay of proceedings

If third parties provide proof, e.g. a certificate from the court concerned, to the EPO during opposition proceedings or during the opposition period that they have opened proceedings against the patent proprietor for the purpose of obtaining a decision within the meaning of Art. 61(1), opposition proceedings are stayed by the Legal Division in accordance with Rule 14(1) EPC unless the third parties consent

The unity of the European patent in opposition proceedings will be affected if the previous patent proprietor and the person replacing them pursuant to Art. 99(4) in respect of a particular contracting state are not deemed to be joint patent proprietors (see D‑I, 6). In this event, the opposition proceedings involving the different patent proprietors must be conducted separately.

GL D VII 3.1 Basic principle

If the patent proprietors are not the same for different designated contracting states, the unity of the European patent in opposition proceedings will not be affected, since such persons are to be regarded as joint proprietors (see D‑I, 6, second and third paragraphs).[Art. 118; ]

In particular, the text of the European patent will be uniform for all designated contracting states unless otherwise provided for in the EPC (see D‑VII

GL D VII 3 Unity of the European patent

3.1 Basic principle

3.2 Factors affecting the unity of the European patent

GL D VII 2 Request for documents

Documents referred to by a party to opposition proceedings must be filed together with the notice of opposition or the written submissions. A single copy of these documents is sufficient.

GL D VII 1.2 Exceptions

Notwithstanding D‑VII, 1.1, above, oppositions are to be given priority:

(i)if the earlier examination proceedings were of considerably longer duration than usual;

(ii)if the opposition proceedings have already extended ove

GL D VII 1.1 Basic principle

Examination of the admissibility of the opposition and preparation of the examination of the opposition will be commenced immediately after the notice of opposition has been received by the formalities officer or the opposition division (see D‑IV, 1 and 3, and D‑V, 1 and 2).