European Patent Office Reports have selected and reported noteworthy decisions of the Enlarged, Technical and Legal Boards of Appeal of the EPO since 1985, covering the period since they began to issue in 1979 to date. The reports are essential reading for all patent practitioners, whether they are concerned with advising on substantive issues of patent protection, or with procedural matters.
The reports review and select from posted EPO decisions, and frequently headnote important decisions before they publish in the Official Journal of the EPO. Each headnote provides an experienced patent professional’s outline of the salient points for which the case is reported, and accompanies the full text of the decision of that reported case. The reports include many decisions not reported elsewhere. The reports thus often spot new developments and emerging trends in the jurisprudence earlier than commentary works.
The reports include:
- Substantive decisions on references to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (G-series) and, selected decisions from the petition for review cases (R-series), which illustrate the applicable approach, or in which a petition for review has succeeded.
- Selected decisions on appeals to the Technical Board of Appeal (T-series).
- Selected decisions on appeals to the Legal Board of Appeal (J-series).
The European Patent Office Reports are an essential resource for practitioners in all jurisdictions who have responsibility for advising on European Patent Law, or for prosecuting or supervising the prosecution of European Patent Applications, including appeals relating to them.
In January 2020 new Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA) came into force and will gradually begin to influence the case management and substantive outcomes of posted decisions. Also, as the new decade begins there are a number of pending referrals to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. Accordingly, the EPORs will continue to:
- Report substantive decisions on referrals to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (G-series cases).
- Review and report Technical Board of Appeal decisions which address novel, technical, legal or procedural points (including those springing from the new RPBA) or which develop or illustrate new and existing themes in the jurisprudence, or are otherwise (head) noteworthy, unusual or informative (T-series cases).
- Review and report Legal Board of Appeal decisions of interest (J - series cases).
- Review and report decisions on petitions for review by the Enlarged Board of Appeal which are allowed, or develop or illustrate the existing jurisprudence (R-series cases).
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