In October last year, EPO president Alison Brimelow asked the Enlarged Board to address four questions, with the aim of clarifying European patent law on patentable subject matter.
The Enlarged Board set up a seven-person Board to review the questions in November. This consists of P Messerli (chair), M Vogel (rapporteur), D Rees, M Dorn, K Härmand, A Klein and J-P Seitz.
Under Article 10 of the Enlarged Board’s Rules of Procedure, interested parties can file written statements.
The latest issue of the EPO Official Journal states: “To ensure that any such statements can be given due consideration they should be filed together with any new cited documents by the end of April 2009”.
Documents must be filed at the Enlarged Board’s Registry, quoting case number G 3/08. The notice says that an additional filing by email “would be appreciated”.
The Board will answer the questions based on a consideration of EPO cases, as well as the submissions received. It is not expected to hold oral hearings.
Given the controversy over the patenting of computer programs in recent years, a large number of submissions can be expected, from the software industry, legal professionals, trade associations and the open-source and anti-software patent communities.
A number of IP professionals spoken to by Managing IP have already said they intend to file submissions.
A decision in the case is not expected until next year at the earliest.
