Legal Status
According to several decisions of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, the Guidelines are only general instructions intended to cover normal occurrences. An Examining Division can depart from them provided it acted in accordance with the European Patent Convention (EPC). It is normally desirable for Examining Divisions to act in accordance with the Guidelines, but these are not rules of law, so failure to follow a procedure set out in them is not in itself a substantial procedural violation. Nevertheless, the users of the European patent system may reasonably expect, in accordance with the established "principle of the protection of legitimate expectations" (also referred to as "principle of good faith"), that the Guidelines will be followed by the departments of first instance of the EPO.
Read more about this topic: Guidelines For Examination In The European Patent Office
Famous quotes containing the words legal status, legal and/or status:
“In the course of the actual attainment of selfish ends—an attainment conditioned in this way by universality—there is formed a system of complete interdependence, wherein the livelihood, happiness, and legal status of one man is interwoven with the livelihood, happiness, and rights of all. On this system, individual happiness, etc. depend, and only in this connected system are they actualized and secured.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“What is clear is that Christianity directed increased attention to childhood. For the first time in history it seemed important to decide what the moral status of children was. In the midst of this sometimes excessive concern, a new sympathy for children was promoted. Sometimes this meant criticizing adults. . . . So far as parents were put on the defensive in this way, the beginning of the Christian era marks a revolution in the child’s status.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)