SONN Patentanwälte – IP Attorneys

  1. No interdiction of novation in oral proceedings

    Oral proceedings would serve no purpose if the parties were limited to present a mere repetition of the arguments put forward in writing. Instead, parties must be allowed to refine their arguments, even to build on them provided they stay within the framework of the arguments, and of course the evidence,...

  2. SONN welcomes two new European Patent Attorneys

    We are pleased to announce that the two Patent Attorney Trainees Matthias Scheiner and David Trauner have successfully passed the European qualifying examination (EQE) and have been included in the list of professional representatives before the European Patent Office.Matthias Scheiner has completed...

  3. Prohibition of reformatio in peius in the case of undisclosed disclaimers

    The conditions of G 1/99 for permissible exceptions from the prohibition of reformatio in peius also apply if the impermissible amendment is an undisclosed disclaimer (EPO BoA 10 February 2021, T 2277/18).

  4. News from SONN Patentanwälte OG

    We relaunch our website - and reduce our firm's name to the essentialsOur new website is online! We engaged Studio Riebenbauer for a redesign. With this relaunch we want to reflect on the trust our clients place in us and the long tradition our firm has enjoyed. The new website features a clean design...

  5. Principle of unity of the language of the proceedings

    Although the reasons for the decision under R 111(2) EPC need not deal with all the arguments of the parties in detail, they must at least deal with the decisive points of dispute. They shall deal with the relevant facts, evidence and arguments and contain the logical chain of reasoning which led to...

  6. Exclusion and objection against members of the Enlarged Board of Appeal

    The fact that a judge has expressed an opinion on a legal issue that is to be decided upon in a case is not in itself and not always a ground for suspicion of partiality (see also G 3/08 and G 2/08). However, the direct involvement in the passage of legislation, which is closely relates to the referred...

  7. Referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal

    Is the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference compatible with the right to oral proceedings as enshrined in Article 116(1) EPC if not all of the parties to the proceedings have given their consent to the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference (EPA BoA 12 March...

  8. Common general knowledge may be introduced ex officio

    Not only in ex parte–, but also in inter partes appeal proceedings, a board is allowed to introduce new ex officio common general knowledge without evidence of such knowledge which prejudices maintenance of the patent, to the extent that the board is knowledgeable in the respective technical field from...

  9. The principle of legitimate expectation also applies to extensions of time due to COVID-19

    If the European Patent Office issues a promise or statement on how to act in a given area (in this case: general extensions of time limits due to the COVID 19 pandemic), the principle of legitimate expectations requires that promise or statement to be honoured unless there is good reason not to do so....

  10. No legal primacy of the clean version of documents

    There is no provision in the EPC establishing any legal primacy of the clean version of a document over the annotated version. In the event of discrepancies between the two versions, it is therefore not a priori clear which version is to be binding (EPO BoA 11 November 2020, T 353/18).
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