BREAKING: The EPO is able to listen
November 9, 2023
...well, at least the EPO's Boards of Appeal, represented by their President Mr. Josefsson, are.
Mr. Josefsson announced in the Boards of Appeal and key decisions 2023 conference just a few minutes ago that in view of the feedback received by users (including yours truly) he will no longer pursue the planned shortening of the period for replying to the grounds of appeal. The proposed change to Art 13(2) RPBA will go ahead, i.e. the third level of convergence will run from the date of the Art 15(1) communication rather than the date of the summons.
We will probably learn more tomorrow about the other proposed changes of the RPBA, but for today let us just praise the EPO's Boards of Appeal Committee and the President of the Boards of Appeal that they took the (probably pretty unequivocal) user feedback on this important point into due account. In particular, I am both pleased and relieved that my earlier scepticism proved wrong and my hope turned out to be justified.
I read somewhere that the EPO logo derives its shape from an ear. Let us hope that Mr. Josefsson has set an example here which will be followed also by other organs of the European Patent Office.
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LightBlue
Didn't I hear him say 'for the moment'?
This is my name
I was always told the logo was derived from a fingerprint...
Max Drei
Well said, Thorsten. Credit where credit's due, I say. Your point about the EPO logo made me smile. I had not seen an ear there, but now you mention it. Better would be a logo depicting both ears, but just one is infinitely better than no ears at all.