T 1832/14 - Documents filed with appeal

Key points

• The Board requires a justification as to why certain documents are submitted for the first time with the Statement of grounds in appeal. The Board decides that stating that the documents were found in "an additional search conducted as a reaction to certain statements and presumptions made by the Opposition Division in the impugned decision", is not enough. 

EPO T 1832/14 - link

Reasons for the Decision

1. Late-filed documents

1.1 Only part of document A6 was submitted during the opposition proceedings, while the rest was submitted for the first time with the statement of grounds of appeal. A7 had been submitted during the opposition proceedings and not admitted into the proceedings. Documents A8 to A13 were submitted with the statement of grounds. It thus needs to be decided whether these late-filed documents are to be admitted into the proceedings or may be disregarded (Article 114(2) EPC).

[]
1.3 In respect of the delay in the submission of A8 to A13, the appellant merely submitted (letter of 6 November 2014, page 2) that they were found in "an additional search conducted as a reaction to certain statements and presumptions made by the Opposition Division in the impugned decision". This submission fails, however, to provide a concrete explanation as to which statements and presumptions of the appealed decision are to be considered and why they allegedly justify an additional search. Hence, no good reason can be seen for the delay in filing A8 to A13.