Germany: Patent

The Court of Appeal addresses whether the deadline for submitting a Statement of response to an appeal can be extended when new information becomes available after the Statement of grounds of appeal was received. This procedural decision involves an appeal between Fives ECL and REEL GmbH concerning European Patent EP 1 740 740, examining the application of specific UPCA articles and Rules of Procedure governing extension of time limits in UPC appeal proceedings.

The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court addresses applications to withdraw in appeal proceedings involving Bekaert Combustion Technology B.V., NV Bekaert SA, and Polidoro S.p.a. concerning European Patent EP 2 037 175. The proceedings examine procedural rules governing withdrawal applications under the Rules of Procedure, specifically Rules 265.1, 265.2(c), and 370.9(b).

The European Patent Office Board of Appeal examined whether mathematical steps for generating points on elliptic curves can contribute to technical character in cryptographic applications. The central question was whether designing a constant-time execution method to prevent timing attacks on secret parameters constitutes a technical effect, or remains merely an abstract mathematical exercise.