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

EP 4 291 779 A1, published as WO 2022/171843 relates to an engine operating using a compression Shape Memory Alloy material.

Brief outline of the case

The text intended for grant of the ED’s in the R 71(3) communication indicated only one drawing sheet: “1/1 as published”.

EP 3 768 123 A1 relates to a therapeutic seat cushion equipped for pressure monitoring and an inflation system for it. It results from the application PCT/US2019/023630 published under WO 2019/183502.

Brief outline of the case

The applicant appealed the decision to grant as the patent as granted did not comprise all the drawing sheets 1/5 to 5/5.

EP 3 483 299 A1 relates to a steel material for hot stamp forming with ultra-fine grains and a process of making the same, a hot stamp forming process and a hot stamp formed member. It has been published in accordance with Art. 153(4) and goes back to the application PCT/CN2016/098411 published as WO 2018/006490.

EP 3 518 116 relates to a relates to a “layer-based file access” by a virtualisation instance.

Brief outline of the case

The application was refused by the ED and the applicant appealed.

During appeal, the applicant filed several requests.

In a recent blog dealing with T 803/17 and T 882/17, I commented on the problem of the hierarchy of legal norms in the EPC system. It is worth noting that in T 882/17 we find a mention of J 14/19, see below.

In recent decisions, some of them, e.g.