Previously in this series:

• The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 1: Rumours of a Kangaroo Court at EPOnia
• The EPO's War on Justice and Assault on the Law -- Part 2: Just Another Pro Forma Rubber-Stamping Exercise?
• You are here ☞ The Current Line-up

Summary: The composition of the Enlarged Board for case no. G 1/21

As already widely reported in the IP blogosphere, the current composition of the Enlarged Board of Appeal in case no. G 1/21 is as follows:

Chairman:

Carl Josefsson

Internal members:

Ingo Beckedorf Wim van der Eijk (Rapporteur) Gunnar Eliasson Andrea Ritza

External members:

Sir Richard Arnold (Lord Justice Arnold) Evangelos Chatzikos, President of the Court of First Instance, Athens

For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the minutiae of the EPO's legal framework, it's worth pointing out that the "internal members" of the Enlarged Board are full time members appointed to the EPO Boards of Appeal for a renewable term of five years under the terms of Articles 11 (3) and 23 (1) of the EPC. (Warning: epo.org links)

"At the conclusion of an oral hearing, the rapporteur is generally responsible for summarising the status of the debate and making a recommendation on the decision to be taken."The "external members" who are appointed under the terms of Articles 11 (5) (warning: epo.org link) EPC are legally qualified members of the national courts or quasi-judicial authorities of the EPO's contracting states.

These "external members" participate in EPO cases on an occasional basis but otherwise continue their normal judicial activities in their respective national courts and tribunals.

Finally, it deserves to be noted that the rapporteur is the member of the Board tasked with analysing the factual and legal issues of relevance to the case and presenting an internal report to the other members.

"It goes without saying that the other members of the Board are free to question or reject the position adopted by the rapporteur but, nevertheless, the rapporteur has a significant influence on the way that the case is handled."At the conclusion of an oral hearing, the rapporteur is generally responsible for summarising the status of the debate and making a recommendation on the decision to be taken.

It goes without saying that the other members of the Board are free to question or reject the position adopted by the rapporteur but, nevertheless, the rapporteur has a significant influence on the way that the case is handled.

In the coming parts of this series we will take a closer look at the individual members listed above and their roles in the procedure.

We will begin by introducing the Chairman of the Board, Carl Josefsson. ⬆