Key points
- "The appellant's reasons for requesting that the oral proceedings take place by videoconference were two-fold. Firstly, this format would facilitate attendance at the hearing by the appellant's in-house counsel. Secondly, it would reduce the risk of any last minute travel disruption which may occur due to the uncertainty surrounding Covid-19 cases."
- "The Board agrees with the respondent that at the relevant time there were no Covid-19 related travel restrictions which would impair the parties' possibilities to attend in person oral proceedings at the EPO premises, and that in person oral proceedings are for now the optimum format as expressed in decision G 1/21.":
- "The Board also considers that the possible attendance of an accompanying person cannot determine the format of the oral proceedings. The Board thus decided that the oral proceedings take place in person."
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/2023/02/t-230319-optimum-format-for-oral.html
