Judgment No. 3558

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 30.06.2015
• Original: English
• Judges: Barbagallo, Moore, Rawlins
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

The complaints are dismissed.

Summary

The complaints are summarily dismissed for failure to exhaust internal remedies.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

joinder; summary procedure; failure to exhaust internal remedies; complaint dismissed

Consideration 9

Extract:

"The clear and consistent authority of the Tribunal is that a complaint filed directly with the Tribunal is irreceivable unless a complainant shows that the requirement to exhaust the internal remedies has had the effect of paralysing the exercise of her or his rights. It is only then that she or he is permitted to come directly to the Tribunal where the competent bodies are not able to determine an internal appeal within a reasonable time, depending on the circumstances. A complainant can make use of this possibility only where he has done his utmost, to no avail, to accelerate the internal procedure and where the circumstances show that the appeal body was not able to reach a decision within a reasonable time (see, for example, Judgments 1486, under 11, 1674, under 6(b), and 2039, under 4 and 6(b), and the cases cited therein)."

Reference(s)

ILOAT Judgment(s): 1486, 1674, 2039

Keywords

direct appeal to tribunal