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12 April 2021
The Annual Report 2020 of the Boards
of Appeal of the European Patent Office was
published today. It is available in English, French and German on the Boards’
website.
Last year was shaped by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the impact of this global health crisis, the Boards
of Appeal were able to continue their successful reforms.
In view of the pandemic, the President
of the Boards of Appeal took a series of measures that ensured the proper and
seamless functioning of the Boards of Appeal as a judicial body of final
instance. While physical distancing rules and strict hygiene standards were
introduced for in‑person oral proceedings, the technical set-up needed to
enable oral proceedings to be held by videoconference was put in place too. Staff
adapted impressively to the changes in their working conditions and the
resulting additional challenges.
Though the temporary disruption
of oral proceedings due to the pandemic had a negative effect on productivity,
the Boards of Appeal still managed to reduce the number of pending cases by
10.3%, settling 3 013 technical appeal cases in 2020.
Another important step in the reform
process was the entry into force on 1 January 2020 of the revised Rules of
Procedures of the Boards of Appeal, which were designed to increase efficiency,
harmonisation and predictability for parties. On 1 April 2020, amended
Rule 103 EPC came into force, offering new opportunities to claim partial
reimbursement of the appeal fee.
Contact
Nikolaus Obrovski
Jeannine Hoppe
Spokespersons of the Boards of Appeal
Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Richard-Reitzner-Allee 8 | 85540 Haar | Germany
[email protected]