New Referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) expected concerning the approach to claim interpretation

The long running saga of if, how and when the description can or should be used to interpret the claims of an EP patent may well be coming to a close.

The Board of Appeal in T0439/22 has confirmed, in the recently published minutes from an Oral proceedings (here), that there is a “need for a referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in order to ensure uniform application of the law within the Boards of Appeal”.

The exact question being referred has not been made available, but seems that this will become known in a decision to be issued on 10 June 2024.  

Previous articles on this can be found here and here.

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Tony Smee

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