Source: http://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/caselaw/2013/e/clr_iii_r.htm
Timestamp: 2016-07-23 09:12:59
Document Index: 567754877

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 133', 'Art. 134', 'Art. 163', 'Art. 163', 'Art. 134', 'Art. 134']

﻿R. Representation - Case Law of the Boards of Appeal, III. Rules common to all proceedings before the EPO X New look and feel for EPO websiteWe have redesigned the EPO website to give it a
1.Professional representatives
1.1.List of professional representatives (Article 134(1) EPC)
1.2.Duty of persons without residence nor place of business within a contracting state to be represented by a professional representative
1.3.Professional representatives during the transitional period
1.4.Procedural steps performed by a person other than the professional representative
2.Legal practitioners entitled to act as professional representative
2.1.General issues
2.2.Register of legal practitioners
2.3.Qualifying conditions according to Article 134(8) EPC
3.Appointment of a common representative (Rule 151 EPC)
4.Authorisations for appointment of a representative
4.1.Filing of the authorisation
4.2.General authorisations
4.3.Sub-authorisations
4.4.Authorisation of an association of representatives
5.Oral submissions by an accompanying person
5.2.Oral submissions by former members of the boards of appeal
5.3.Oral submissions by qualified patent lawyers of non-EPC contracting states
6.Distinction between presentation of facts and evidence and presentation of arguments
The following section looks at problems addressed by the boards arising in cases where the parties are represented in proceedings, either by choice (see previous paragraph) or by obligation (because they have no residence or principal place of business in a contracting state).
Art. 133 EPC contains the general principles governing representation with respect to proceedings under the EPC. It remains unchanged with the entry into force of the EPC 2000 (13 December 2007), save for minor editorial streamlining and changes aimed at increasing the consistency of the text of the EPC as a whole. Art. 134 EPC on representation before the EPO is likewise substantively unchanged but features some editorial amendments, in particular to take account of the deletion of Art. 163 EPC 1973, now largely superseded. The substance of the "grandfather clause" of Art. 163 EPC 1973 has in effect been integrated in Art. 134(3) EPC in simplified form as a permanent feature of the EPC designed to deal with the situation of national representatives of states acceding to the EPC in the future.
The revised Art. 134 EPC is applicable as from the entry into force of the EPC 2000.
See also the Guidelines for Examination in the EPO (June 2012 edition), A-VIII, but also Guidelines E-II, 8.5 and E-III, 1.6.1. The Guidelines refer to the decisions of the EPO President dated 12 July 2007 (OJ SE 3/2007, A.3 and L.1.) Readers can find analyses of those decisions in, for example, T 267/08, J 8/10 and T 1744/09.
On the signature of documents and the EPO President's decision dated 26 February 2009, OJ 2009, 182, see in particular the Guidelines A-VIII.