Judgment No. 574
Decision
1. The President's decision of 29 January 1982 is quashed. 2. The case is referred back to the President of the EPO for a new decision. 3. The complainant is awarded 1,000 guilders as costs.
Consideration 3
Extract:
"The Tribunal observes that the defendant is under a duty to enable the court to render a complete decision on the dispute. If the party who is the defendant takes the view that the complaint should be rejected because it is clearly vexatious, he may apply to the Tribunal, before filing the reply, for permission to confine his arguments to that point. Otherwise he will incur the danger that the Tribunal declare the allegations of fact in the complaint to be established."
Keywords
tribunal; submissions; reply confined to receivability; organisation's duties; acceptance; condition; consequence
Consideration 2
Extract:
The organisation committed an error of law by relying on res judicata and refusing to take up the case and consider the complainant's arguments during internal proceedings. The organisation argues the merits before the court only subsidiarily and very briefly, and it fails to answer most of the complainant's pleas.
Keywords
res judicata; reply confined to receivability
Summary
Extract:
The organisation pleads that the complaint fails by the doctrine of res judicata, in view of the fact that the complainant was an intervener in Judgment No. 365. The plea was dismissed on the grounds that the substance of the two claims was not the same: the first claim challenged a measure which had the force of a rule whereas the second concerned a decision of an individual nature. The case is referred back to the President for a new decision. The Tribunal stressed that the organisation should not have based its reply solely on res judicata, refraining from arguing the merits without having been granted permission to do so by the Tribunal.
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 365
Keywords
general decision; individual decision; intervention; res judicata; same purpose; decision quashed; case sent back to organisation; further submissions on the merits; reply confined to receivability
Consideration 2
Extract:
The condition that the parties should be the same is met here: "Although Mr. [H.] was not a complainant in the case in which the Tribunal gave judgment [...] He was an intervener, the Tribunal declared the intervention receivable, and it dismissed the applications to intervene together with the complaints. Mr. [H.] was therefore party to those proceedings."
Keywords
intervention; res judicata; same parties; judgment of the tribunal; effect
Consideration 2
Extract:
Where a plea of res judicata "is upheld the effect is to preclude a further ruling on claims identical in substance to claims on which the Tribunal has already passed judgment. Where the earlier complaint was dismissed the doctrine of res judicata will apply if three conditions are fulfilled": that the parties must be the same, that the substance of the claim should be the same and that the cause of action should be the same.
Keywords
res judicata; same cause of action; same parties; same purpose; condition
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