For the whole decision click here: o45001
Summary
During the evidence rounds of a revocation action, the applicant for revocation filed a supplementary statement of case with their evidence-in-reply, which brought in a completely new point. The patentee was then given the opportunity to file extra evidence dealing with this new point, which included a witness statement from a new witness. The applicant objected to this extra evidence on the grounds of lateness and requested disclosure in respect of an experiment described in the patentees original evidence. At a preliminary hearing, the parties accepted after various exchanges that most of the evidence in dispute was irrelevant and so the hearing officer made a formal order that the details of the experiment and the new witnesss statement be struck out of the evidence. The patentee was then at liberty to file a replacement statement directed solely at the matter raised in the applicant's supplementary statement of case.