Case law - Unity Flashcards
G1/89 Non-unity a posteriori
The agreement between the European Patent Organisation and WIPO dated 7 October 1987,
including the obligation under its Article 2 for the EPO to be guided by the PCT guidelines for
international search, is binding upon the EPO when acting as an ISA and upon the Boards of Appeal of the EPO when deciding on protests against the charging of additional search fees under the provisions of Article 17(3)(a) PCT. Consequently, as foreseen in these guidelines, an international application may, under Article 17(3)(a) PCT, be considered not to comply with the requirement of unity of invention, not only “a priori”, but also “a posteriori”, i.e. after taking prior art into consideration. However, such consideration only has the procedural effect of initiating the special procedure laid down in Article 17 and Rule 40 PCT and is not, therefore, a “substantive examination” in the normal sense of that term.
