T 2526/19 - ViCo's forever

Key points

• "Two weeks ahead of the scheduled oral proceedings before the board, the hearing was converted to VICO-based oral proceedings under Article 15a(1) RPBA."
•  "[The] compliance of Article 15a RPBA with the EPC has not been questioned by the Enlarged Board of Appeal in case G 1/21, whether or not a "general emergency" applies. Article 15a RPBA thus remains applicable, without any qualification, to these and future appeal proceedings."
• I refrain from commenting on this T decision except for citing G 1/21: "a hearing in person is the optimum format or, to use a term well known in the field of European patent law, it is the gold standard. It definitely fulfils the requirements of Article 113 EPC and Article 6 ECHR. It is also the format that the legislator had in mind when drafting Article 116 EPC. Therefore, in-person hearings should be the default option. Parties can only be denied this option for good reasons."

EPO T 2526/19

The link to the decision is provided after the jump, as well as (an extract of) the text of the decision.

https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/recent/t192526eu1.html

Reasons for the Decision

1. Conducting oral proceedings by videoconference

1.1 Initially, the parties were summoned to in-person oral proceedings. Two weeks ahead of the scheduled oral proceedings before the board, the hearing was converted to VICO-based oral proceedings under Article 15a(1) RPBA.

1.2 In view of the pandemic developments and the resulting high incidences in Bavaria at the relevant time, the risk for an infection for all participants, including the board, was to be weighed up against the respondent's reservations as to holding VICO-based oral proceedings, the complexity of the case, and the suitability of the case for a hearing in this format.

1.3 The board, after having considered all these relevant criteria, came to the conclusion that a VICO-based hearing was indeed a suitable format for such proceedings under Article 15a(1) RPBA. Moreover, the compliance of Article 15a RPBA with the EPC has not been questioned by the Enlarged Board of Appeal in case G 1/21, whether or not a "general emergency" applies. Article 15a RPBA thus remains applicable, without any qualification, to these and future appeal proceedings.