Judgment No. 1962
Decision
1. THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE CLAIM TO SET ASIDE THE DECISION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE OFFICE, DATED 1 DECEMBER 1998, AND OF THE CLAIMS FOR DAMAGES MADE IN THE COMPLAINT OF 26 FEBRUARY 1999 IS RECORDED.
2. THE EPO'S COUNTERCLAIMS ARE DISMISSED.
3. THE CLAIMS MADE IN THE REJOINDER OF 2 SEPTEMBER 1999 ARE DISMISSED.
Consideration 5
Extract:
The Tribunal recalls that it has the inherent power to impose costs on a complainant. But it specifies that it will only exercise this power in exceptional circumstances. "In the present case, it is clear that a full withdrawal of suit would have been desirable once Judgment 1864 had upheld the rules [at issue]. However, neither the fact that the complainant filed his complaint later than his colleagues, nor his failure to reply to the invitation made by the legal services to withdraw suit in the week following [...] can be considered as constituting abuse. The Tribunal finds that in the circumstances, this is not one of the exceptional cases in which it could penalise the filing or maintenance of a complaint as being abusive. It therefore dismisses the EPO's counterclaims."
Reference(s)
Jugement(s) TAOIT: 1864
Keywords
withdrawal of suit; exception; vexatious complaint; costs; counterclaim; condition
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