Judgment No. 3331

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 09.07.2014
• Original: Anglais
• Judges: Barbagallo, Moore, Rawlins
• Full judgment text (anglais) - Texte intégral du jugement

Decision

The complaint is dismissed.

Summary

Considering that the Internal Appeals Committee had not examined his appeal within a reasonable time, the complainant filed his complaint directly with the Tribunal.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

internal remedies exhausted; complaint dismissed

Consideration 7

Extract:

"[B]efore the complainant brought his case directly to the Tribunal, he had to inform the EPO of his continued interest in his internal appeal, thus putting it on notice that he wanted the process to proceed. The Tribunal will accept a complaint to be brought directly to it where the internal redress process is not exhausted if it appears that a complainant’s rights in the internal appeal process have been paralysed."

Keywords

direct appeal to tribunal; internal remedies exhausted