Updates on EPC, PCT, EPO case law and the e-EQE

In T 71/21 (28.4.2022) the board decided that the opposition fee could not be paid by automatic debit of an account and that form 1038 could not be corrected under R 139.

See my comment:

T 71/21 – Payment of the appeal fee by automatic debit procedure not open to the opponent –

A publication on the home page of the EPO of 15.06.2022 deals with op by ViCo

https://www.epo.org/news-events/news/2022/20220615.html

It was made clear that “oral proceedings before examining divisions will as a rule continue to be held by VICO“.

In this communication it has been added that “if there are serious reasons against holding them by VICO.

In its refusal decision the ED found that the subject-matter of claim 1 of the sole request before it was not new in view of a sole piece of prior art, D1.

In an obiter dictum the Examining Division further pointed out that the subject-matter of claim 1 represented an unallowable intermediate generalisation of the content of the application as originally filed.

The outline of the case

The opponent filed the notice of appeal electronically, within the required time limit.

The notice of appeal was received with an accompanying letter, Form 1038. This form is generated automatically (among other things) as part of the online fee payment when a debit order is issued to the EPO,

The applicant appealed the refusal and requested that OP to be held by ViCo.

In a letter received on 01.04.2022 the applicant/appellant referred to the Covid-19 infection rates in the United Kingdom and in Munich and requested that the OP be held as a ViCo.

In a communication dated 11.04.2022 the board noted that there seemed to no longer be any official limitations or impairments affecting the appellant’s ability to attend oral proceedings in person.