Petitions for review of the EPO Appeal Board decisions by the EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal: part IV

Abstract

... In three earlier articles in this journal, and a post in its blog,1 I have commented on the Petition for review procedure2 established by the 2000 revision of the European Patent Convention (EPC). My interest in the procedure arose as I hoped it might be a way of delaying a final decision against my clients in one of my cases. Reviewing the early cases decided by the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) made it clear that I should choose an alternative strategy, which I did, ultimately successfully. Nonetheless, I remained interested in what appeared to be a pale imitation of a legitimate appeal procedure in the European (but not European Union) structure of the EPO. With the possible arrival of the Unified Patent Court (UPC)3 within the next year or so, there seems to be a possibility that the EPO Petition procedure will lose what little popularity it has, at least with patent opponents. Therefore, it is time to review what has been happening with the EPO Petitions over the last few years.