T 0378/15 - Wikipedia not admissible

Key points

• Opponent files Wikipedia extracts with the appeal. The Board does not admit them.
•  "However, the reliability of the information contained in these specific articles of Wikipedia cannot be assessed and/or there is no evidence that the content of those documents was made available to the public before the effective date of filing of the patent in suit. Accordingly, and independently from the question whether or not there was any justification to submit those documents on appeal, those documents cannot be used to prove common general knowledge available at the effective date of the patent in suit and therefore cannot be held to relate in its broadest sense to the case under appeal. "
• This is a repost, because the first time the post was published prematurely.

EPO T 0378/15 -  link




1.6 A1, A2, A4 and A5 are extracts of Wikipedia cited by opponent 2 in order to demonstrate the meaning to be attributed to certain terms contained in claim 1 as maintained by the opposition division (A1 and A2) or to analyse the disclosure of embodiment 2 of E11 regarding the amount of carbon fibers contained in the composition described therewith. However, the reliability of the information contained in these specific articles of Wikipedia cannot be assessed and/or there is no evidence that the content of those documents was made available to the public before the effective date of filing of the patent in suit. Accordingly, and independently from the question whether or not there was any justification to submit those documents on appeal, those documents cannot be used to prove common general knowledge available at the effective date of the patent in suit and therefore cannot be held to relate in its broadest sense to the case under appeal. Accordingly, the Board makes use of its discretionary power under Article 12(4) RPBA to hold documents A1, A2, A4 and A5 as inadmissible.