EPO rules on emails and the internet as a source of prior art

The EPO Technical Board of Appeal (TBA) has recently ruled in two parallel test cases on the use of emails (T2/09) and the Internet (T 1553/06) as a source of prior art when assessing whether an invention is novel and inventive.

T2/09 and T 1553/06 were appeals from granted patent applications which had been filed in order to create legal test cases. The cases were unusual in the fact that the proprietor and opponent appeared to cooperate to create a specific set of facts to allow a Board of Appeal to rule on when “disclosures via the Internet" are publicly available within the meaning of Article 54 EPC. 

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When are internet publications and emails deemed disclosed to the public?

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