Key points
- The Board: in translation (r.6) " For an appeal to be admissible, it is not necessary for the appellant to challenge the opposition division's decision as erroneous. According to established case law (cf. "Case Law of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office", 9th edition 2019, VA2.6.5 c)), a statement of grounds of appeal can also be regarded as sufficient if new facts are presented which take away the legal basis for the decision. In particular, an appellant [appealing patentee] can present amended sets of claims and explain why these [amendments] are suitable for eliminating the deficiencies complained of in the contested decision. Exceptionally, however, a new request which obviously serves to remove the ground for revocation, for example because a feature objected to by the opposition division under Article 123(2) EPC is replaced by a suitable amendment, can be made without further justification as to why the decision under appeal is considered wrong, constitutes an immediately recognizable and sufficiently direct link between the decision under appeal and the statement of grounds of appeal (see T 1276/05, point 1.2 of the statement of reasons for the decision; T 933/04, point 1.2.3 of the statement of reasons)."
- The Board: " The question of admissibility of the appeal does not depend on whether the amended claims are subsequently admitted into the proceedings by the board or whether the appellant's submissions are ultimately convincing."
EPO
The link to the decision is provided after the jump, as well as (an extract of) the text of the decision.
source http://justpatentlaw.blogspot.com/2022/03/t-255816-appeal-admissible-and.html