Keeping abreast of the latest developments in Enlarged Board of Appeal case no. G 1/21.

Summary: The EPO's attack on the independence of judges and on patent tribunals' autonomy hasn't stopped after Benoît Battistelli left; we take a closer look at the G 1/21 hearing, which took place at the end of May

As already reported in previous coverage of the referral case no. G 1/21 by Techrights, an oral hearing was held before the Enlarged Board of Appeal on Friday 28 May 2021.

The hearing - which was conducted by video-conference - was for the most part held "in camera" - no pun intended!

"The hearing ended in an adjournment of the proceedings to allow the appellant to file new submissions. The procedure is expected to continue with a further ViCo hearing scheduled for 2 July."The whole morning was taken up with non-public discussions between the Enlarged Board of Appeal and the appellant concerning allegations of partiality and other contentious matters.

The hearing ended in an adjournment of the proceedings to allow the appellant to file new submissions. The procedure is expected to continue with a further ViCo hearing scheduled for 2 July.

The general consensus amongst EPO insiders is that the hearing of 28 May provided further evidence that the overlords of EPOnia are operating a "legal fudge" factory.

"The general consensus amongst EPO insiders is that the hearing of 28 May provided further evidence that the overlords of EPOnia are operating a "legal fudge" factory."The upcoming mini-series will attempt to keep readers abreast of the latest developments in this referral case.

It's worth repeating that the issues at stake here have serious and far-reaching implications for the governance of the EPO and the organisation's public credibility.

We also intend to use this opportunity to introduce some members of EPO's internal legal team who are responsible for representing the President of the Office in the referral procedure.

"We also intend to use this opportunity to introduce some members of EPO's internal legal team who are responsible for representing the President of the Office in the referral procedure."In particular, we plan to take an in-depth look at the head of the President's team, Mihály Zoltán Ficsor, a former Hungarian delegate to the Administrative Council who was employed at the EUIPO in Alicante before joining Team Campinos at the EPO in March 2020.

Stay tuned for more… ⬆

Note: Part 8 mentions Mihály Ficsor's record as an advocate of "software patents" and his attacks on RMS and others. This may be of particular interest to readers of Techrights. We expect to release one part every day.