The Applied Physics Joint Cluster had invited Robert Schnekenbühl to give a lecture at the EPO as part of the Continous Knowledge Transfer program. The subject was the oral proceedings before the EPO, in particular before the opposition divisions of the EPO. The lecture took place at the EPA Pschorrhöfe in the large lecture hall and was very well attended.
Feedback from the EPO was very good and many voices praised the successful presentation and the way in which it was presented. The fear of some people of the office to hear only criticism of the system practiced in this lecture was unfounded – in addition to a brief introduction to the main features of the opposition procedure and the development of procedural law by the EBoA’s decision-making practice, tactical considerations in the various stages of the procedure from the Lawyer’s perspective were the main issues together with the presentation of a comparison of the procedure at the EPO in an international context with other types of proceedings. Afterwards there was a lively discussion of open questions from the audience, which had to be ended at a fixed time, especially since the staff of the EPO were called to a demonstration rally at the Isar building, in which the Administrative Council met at the same time.