This session will help you make sense of the recent landmark decisions by the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal in G 1/22 and G 2/22, which have softened the approach to assessing entitlement to priority in patent applications. Topics of discussion include:

• Discussing the EPO’s established competence to assess whether a party is entitled to claim priority, as affirmed in G 1/22 and G 2/22
• Analyzing the Enlarged Board’s introduction of a “rebuttable presumption” that a priority claim is valid, significantly altering the burden of proof dynamics in priority entitlement challenges
• Exploring how this shift impacts both patent applicants and opponents in opposition proceedings, including strategies for leveraging or countering priority claims
• Examining the decision’s perspective on transfers of priority rights, especially in scenarios involving joint filings of PCT applications by different parties
• Providing insights into how patent practitioners can adjust their approaches to claiming priority in light of these decisions, ensuring more robust and defensible patent applications