Geen herstel bij EOB door nieuw bewijsmateriaal te leveren
EPO Board of Appeal 6 juni 2012, J 0005-11 (Verari Systems Inc.)
Octrooirecht. De octrooi-aanvrager gaat in beroep tegen het vervallen van zijn rechten door het niet (tijdig) betalen van jaarlijkse octrooiheffing, maar hij kan zijn fout in eerste instantie niet meer herstellen door nieuw bewijsmateriaal op te voeren bij de beroepsgronden. 12(4) RPBA en Article 114(2) EPC.
7. While it is true that the primary function of the Boards of Appeal, as stated above in paragraph 1, is to give a judicial decision on the correctness of a first-instance decision of the Office, that does not necessarily mean that new evidence submitted for the first time on appeal is automatically inadmissible. A rigid rule excluding all new evidence on appeal might lead to injustice and unfairness in some cases and would not be compatible with the principles of procedural law generally recognized in the Contracting States (cf. Article 125 EPC).
8. The appellant does not have an absolute right to introduce new evidence with its statement of grounds of appeal. That is clear from the wording of Article 12(4) of the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA), which refers to "the power of the Board to hold inadmissible facts, evidence or requests which could have been presented or were not admitted in the first instance proceedings". Article 12(4) RPBA must be read in the light of Article 114(2) EPC, which provides:
"The European Patent Office may disregard facts or evidence which are not submitted in due time by the parties concerned."
It is sometimes said that there is a contradiction between the Office's power to disregard late-filed evidence (Article 114(2) EPC) and its obligation to examine the facts of its own motion (Article 114(1) EPC) (see, for example, the discussion in "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office", 6th edition 2010, VII.C.1). There is, however, no such contradiction because the Office is not required to disregard late-filed evidence but merely given a discretionary power to disregard such evidence (see T 122/84, OJ EPO 1987, 177, paragraph 11, and the reference made therein to the Travaux Préparatoires to the EPC).
