Reasons for opposition

The opposition may be based only on the following reasons:

• Lack of patentability of the subject-matter (novelty, inventive step, other patent exclusions mentioned in Art. 52(2), 53 EPC);
• incomplete disclosure of the invention;
• impermissible extension beyond the original content of the patent application.

The opposition should be very well prepared in order to be successful. In most cases, it will be necessary to claim obvious prior art that was not or insufficiently considered in the examination procedure. Therefore, before preparing an opposition, own searches are regularly necessary, for which sufficient time must be scheduled. Therefore, the processing of a possible opposition should not start later than 4 months before the end of the opposition period.