T 0983/20 - Admissibility and admissibility

Key points

• This post is kind of at the EQE level, but still illustrative.
• The OD rejected the opposition. The opponent appeals.
• "In the contested decision, the opposition division considered the solution proposed by claim 1 as granted to involve an inventive step. In section 2.2 of the reasons for the decision the opposition division addressed the opponent's objection of obviousness based on a combination of D1 and  D2. The opposition division summarised the opponent's arguments and set out two reasons why they were not found convincing".
• " In the statement of grounds of appeal the appellant (opponent) requested that the decision under appeal be set aside and that the patent be revoked in its entirety. They submitted that the subject-matter of all of the claims 1 to 7 of the patent lacked an inventive step over a combination of D1 and D2."
• "With further submissions filed after the statement of grounds of appeal, the appellant presented further arguments regarding the objection of lack of inventive step over documents D1 and D2. The appellant also presented a new objection of lack of novelty under Article 54(3) EPC over [D3, ] a European patent application which had not previously been cited."
• The Board considers the appeal to be inadmissible under R.99(2). 
•  "the Board concurs with the respondents that the statement of grounds of appeal does not address the reasons given in the contested decision as to why the subject-matter of claim 1 is not rendered obvious by the combination of document D1 and document D2."
• "The statement of grounds of appeal to a large extent merely repeats the submissions that were made in the letter of 10 October 2019 prior to the oral proceedings before the opposition division. The statement of grounds of appeal does not address or deal with the reasons set out in the penultimate paragraph of section 2.2 of the reasons for the decision and does not enable the board to understand immediately why they should be incorrect."
• The appeal is rejected as inadmissible.
• The Board does not arrive at the new attacks based on D3. 
• The decision illustrates that admissibility under Rule 99(2) is not a discretionary decision and is "all or nothing". Admissibility under Rule 99(2) and under Art. 12, RPBA should not be conflated. 
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EPO 

The link to the decision is provided after the jump. 

https://www.epo.org/en/boards-of-appeal/decisions/t200983eu1