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Date of decision
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21 October 1999
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Case number
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T 0904/97
- 3.4.2
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Application number
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93110200.8
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Title of the application
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Apparatus for forming an image on a record medium
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Applicant name
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Seiko Epson Corporation
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Keywords
Division of a divisional application
Benefit of the filing date of the grandparent application (no)
Patentability (no)
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Catchwords:
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1. Since both the divisional application for which the patent in
suit is granted and the parent application comprise
subject-matter extending beyond the content of the grandparent
application as originally filed, the second-generation patent
cannot possibly benefit from the filing date of the grandparent
application, the publication of which therefore belongs to the
prior art under Article 54(2) EPC.
2. Thus there was no need for the Board in the present
circumstances to further investigate the issues of the
admissibility of sequences of divisional applications and of
their proper handling, which therefore could be left open (point
2 of the Reasons).
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