Brigit den Adel

If the appointed professional representative receives a communication of loss of rights due to the non-payment of fees, the cause of non-compliance with the period is removed pursuant to Rule 136(1) EPC, first sentence, on the date of that actual receipt.

In T 2353/22, the Board discussed the assessment of inventive step for a claim comprising a mixture of technical and non-technical features. The Board confirmed that claimed features must not be analysed as a collection of disconnected features but as a whole, and their technical contribution be assessed in the context of the claim. In such analysis, even commonplace features may make a technical contribution and can contribute to the presence of an inventive step.

T 0972/22 concerns an appeal against a decision of the Opposition Division (OD) to revoke the European Patent 3004349. During the opposition procedure, a third-party observation filed after the opposition period became relevant during oral proceedings, changing the preliminary opinion on inventive step.