Judgment No. 4131

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 06.02.2019
• Original: English
• Judges: Barbagallo, Rawlins, Kreins
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

The complaint is dismissed.

Summary

The complainant impugns the decision of the President of the Office to reject his appeal against the referral of his case to the Appeals Committee.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

summary procedure; step in the procedure; complaint dismissed

Consideration 4

Extract:

The complaint is irreceivable. Although the complainant has formally exhausted the internal means of redress available to him, his internal appeal was directed against what was merely a step in the process which would culminate in a final decision on his appeal. According to the case law, the steps leading to a final decision can be challenged before the Tribunal only in the context of a complaint impugning that final decision (see, for example, Judgment 3961, consideration 4, and the case law cited therein; Judgment 3958, consideration 15; and Judgment 3860, considerations 5 and 6).

Reference(s)

ILOAT Judgment(s): 3860, 3958, 3961

Keywords

receivability of the complaint; final decision; step in the procedure