T 0715/16 - An objection that never is late

 Key points

• “In their letter dated 30 January 2020 the patent proprietor contested - for the first time - the admissibility of the opponent's appeal. The board concurs with the findings in T 15/01 (OJ EPO 2006, 153, point 1 of the Reasons) that the admissibility of an appeal can and has to be examined at every stage of the appeal procedure ”
• “Unlike the position taken in T 670/09 (point 1.1.1 of the Reasons), an objection to admissibility of an appeal can therefore not be disregarded for the mere reason that it was raised at a late stage of the appeal proceedings.”
• The applicable RPBA are not expressly discussed in connection with this point.
  
  
• “Further, the board is not aware of any legal basis pursuant to which the repeated invoking of the person skilled in the art without citing correspondent pieces of evidence should have as a consequence that the appeal is found inadmissible. According to T 766/91, cited by the patent proprietor in this respect, evidence of general technical knowledge is indeed required if it is challenged by another party. Yet T 766/91 also rules that for the purposes of admissibility of the appeal it would be sufficient to state a fact and allege that it is general knowledge in the art concerned, without the need for referring to a particular publication”
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T 0715/16 - 

https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t160715eu1.html

decision text omitted.