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| European Case Law Identifier: | ECLI:EP:BA:2019:J000718.20190116 | ||||||||
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| Date of decision: | 16 January 2019 | ||||||||
| Case number: | J 0007/18 | ||||||||
| Application number: | 06789566.4 | ||||||||
| IPC class: | G11C 11/41 G11C 11/412 H01L 27/11 H01L 21/8244 |
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| Language of proceedings: | EN | ||||||||
| Distribution: | D | ||||||||
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| Title of application: | SRAM CELL WITH SEPARATE READ-WRITE CIRCUITRY | ||||||||
| Applicant name: | Texas Instruments Incorporated | ||||||||
| Opponent name: | – | ||||||||
| Board: | 3.1.01 | ||||||||
| Headnote: | – | ||||||||
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| Keywords: | Withdrawal of the appeal Reimbursement of appeal fee – (no) |
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Summary of Facts and Submissions
I. The appeal is directed against the decision of the Examining Division posted on 30 November 2017.
II. The appellant filed a notice of appeal on 12 February 2018 and paid the appeal fee on the same date.
III. By communication of 13 June 2018, received by the appellant, the Registry of the Board informed the appellant that it appeared from the file that the written statement of grounds of appeal had not been filed, and that it was therefore to be expected that the appeal would be rejected as inadmissible pursuant to Article 108, third sentence, EPC in conjunction with Rule 101(1) EPC. The appellant was informed that any observations had to be filed within two months of notification of the communication.
IV. By letter dated 3 September 2018 the appellant withdrew its appeal and requested reimbursement of 50% of the appeal fee.
V. By communication dated 21 September 2018 the Board informed the appellant of its preliminary opinion that the request for reimbursement of part of the appeal fee could not be allowed and that it did not intend to summon the appellant to oral proceedings. It asked the appellant to confirm whether it maintained the request for reimbursement of part of the appeal fee in view of the communication and informed the appellant that any submissions or requests had to be made within two months of notification of the communication.
VI. No reply has been received.
Reasons for the Decision
1. Rule 103(2)(b) EPC determines the reimbursement of the appeal fee in cases where the Board has issued a communication inviting the appellant to file observations. Pursuant to this rule 50% of the appeal fee shall be reimbursed if the appeal is withdrawn before expiry of the period for filing observations.
2. In the present case, the communication dated 13 June 2018 was issued by the Registry. It constitutes a communication issued by the Board as the Registry executed the task of issuing the communication on behalf of the Board (Article 6(2) RPBA in conjunction with Article 2(1) of the Decision of the Presidium of the Boards of Appeal dated 12 November 2007 concerning the transfer of functions to the Registrars of the Boards of Appeal). In this communication the appellant was invited to file observations within two months of notification of the communication. This period expired on 23 August 2018. The appellant withdrew the appeal on 3 September 2018 and thus after the expiry of the period for filing observations. There is thus no legal basis for a reimbursement of 50% of the appeal fee and the request for reimbursement of the appeal fee cannot be allowed.
Order
For these reasons it is decided that:
The request for reimbursement of the appeal fee is refused.