T 0152/24 - No review of decision to admit

Key points

• The opponent argues that the proprietor's main request should not be admitted. The main request is the version upheld by the OD with minor amendments. The request was filed as auxiliary request 46 or "AR46" in the procedure before the OD (with the written submissions before the hearing). 
• The Board, in translation: " it is self-evident that the version of the request upheld by the Opposition Division was addressed in the contested decision. It is therefore already part of the appeal proceedings pursuant to Article 12(2) RPBA. Consequently, there is no basis under Article 12(4) RPBA for disregarding this request (T 566/24, Reasons 1.4; see also T 1206/19, Reasons 2.5). In contrast, T 989/23 concerned a request which, although admitted by the Opposition Division, was not addressed on its merits and is therefore not relevant here (Reasons 9.6)."
• See also my post on T 0989/23.
• " The current main request differs from the version maintained by the Opposition Division only in that dependent claims have been deleted. While this amendment was made after receipt of the communication containing the Board's preliminary opinion (Article 15(1) RPBA), the aforementioned deletion of dependent claims is, in principle, capable of resolving objections to these claims without raising new questions. Moreover, the request is promising in light of the Board's preliminary opinion. This may constitute exceptional circumstances within the meaning of Article 13(2) RPBA, which warrant consideration at this stage of the proceedings – in consideration of the principles of fair trial and procedural economy inherent in the RPBA (T 1800/21, Reasons 3.4.2 to 3.4.6, following T 2295/19, Reasons 3.4.6)."

EPO 

The link to the decision is provided after the jump.

https://www.epo.org/en/boards-of-appeal/decisions/t240152du1