Opposition Procedure Before The European Patent Office - Rationale, Framework, and Available Grounds

Rationale, Framework, and Available Grounds

The purpose of the opposition proceedings is to give opponents the opportunity to challenge the validity of a granted European patent. Opponents may also challenge only some of the claims of the European patent, therefore limiting the framework of the opposition to the challenged claims.

However, an opposition can only be based on a limited number of grounds (i.e., objections) specified in the European Patent Convention, namely the grounds listed in Article 100 EPC. An opposition can be based on the grounds that the subject-matter of the patent is not patentable (Article 100(a) EPC, for instance because the claimed invention is not new or not inventive), on the ground that the invention is insufficiently disclosed to allow a person skilled in the art to carry it out (Article 100(b) EPC), or on the ground that the content of the patent extends beyond the content of the application as filed –"or, if the patent was granted on a divisional application or on a new application filed under Article 61 EPC, beyond the content of the earlier application as filed"– (Article 100(c) EPC). An opposition can for instance not be validly based on the grounds that the invention lacks unity (Article 82 EPC) or that the right to the European patent does not belong to the proprietor of the patent (Article 60(1) EPC).