EPO: R16/13 (Boehringer v. Norton), Board of Appeal, 8 December 2014

The enlarged board of appeal of the European patent office allowed a petition for review of a board decision because the right to be heard had been denied. The decisive ground for the decision under review involved a new conclusion from a document that was in the proceedings. This conclusion could not be directly derived from submissions of the parties or notice from the board. The fact that the proprietor expressed a different opinion on the document, without notice of challenge from the opponent or the board, showed a denial of the right to be heard on the new conclusion.

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.