In May, the Enlarged Board of Appeal will hear a case on the lawfulness of conducting oral proceedings by compulsory video conference in case G1/21. Companies, professional associations and patent attorneys have filed 22 amicus curiae briefs on the issue. Among them, an alliance of seven well-known German patent attorney firms is taking a position on the issue of video conference without party consent.
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The parties involved had until 27 April to submit comments on the much-debated issue. A total of 22 companies, law firms, individuals as well as professional and industrial associations used the opportunity. […] The firms are opposed to compulsory oral hearings by video conference. They argue that the EPO should only conduct oral hearings via video conference with the consent of all parties.
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Law firm Maiwald is also supporting a complaint from client Perdue at the German Constitutional Court, concerning the lack of a legal hearing at the EPO court.
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This text is a press release from JUVE Patent. The full text version of the article can be found here.
