Case References
Each decision of the Boards of Appeal and the Enlarged Board of Appeal, as well as each opinion of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, has an alphanumeric reference, such as decision T 285/93. The first letter of the reference indicates the type of board which took the decision:
- G - Enlarged Board of Appeal (decisions and opinions under Article 112 EPC)
- R - Enlarged Board of Appeal (petitions for review under Article 112a EPC)
- T - Technical Board of Appeal
- J - Legal Board of Appeal
- D - Disciplinary Board of Appeal
- W - Decision concerning PCT reserves under Rule 40.2 PCT or Rule 68.3 PCT
The number before the oblique is the serial number, allocated by chronological order of receipt at the DG3, the Directorate General 3 (Appeals) of the European Patent Office. The last two digits give the year of receipt of the appeal in DG3. The letter "V" is sometimes used to refer to a decision of an Examination or Opposition Division.
In addition to their alphanumeric reference, decisions are sometimes referred to and identified by their date. This enables to distinguish between decisions bearing the same alphanumeric reference but issued at a different date (e.g. T 843/91 of March 17, 1993 and T 843/91 of August 5, 1993, T 59/87 of April 26, 1988 and T 59/87 of August 14, 1990 or T 261/88 of March 28, 1991 and T 261/88 of February 16, 1993 ). These cases are relatively rare however.
Read more about this topic: Appeal Procedure Before The European Patent Office
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