文/北京集佳知識產(chǎn)權(quán)代理有限公司西安分部 秦曉君
一、歐洲口審意見簡介
口審(Oral proceedings)是歐洲專利審查程序的末端，在歐專局下發(fā)的口審?fù)ㄖ型ǔ?guī)定口審的具體日期、地點以及形式（現(xiàn)場會晤或視頻會議），還會規(guī)定遞交書面答復(fù)意見(written submissions)的期限?？趯?fù)ㄖ陌l(fā)文日距口審舉行日期的時間跨度通常為至少四個月。
口審意見答復(fù)通常分為兩個階段：第一階段，遞交書面答復(fù)意見（可以包括申請文件修改以及爭辯）；第二階段，在書面答復(fù)意見仍然不被審查員接受、申請不能獲得授權(quán)的情況下，在口審?fù)ㄖ?guī)定的時間以現(xiàn)場會晤或視頻會議的形式與審查員舉行口審（如果遞交書面答復(fù)意見之后獲得了授權(quán)，就不再舉行第二階段的口審）。
在提供針對口審的書面答復(fù)意見時，允許提供兩種答復(fù)方案，其中一個方案作為主請求(main request)，另一個方案作為輔請求(auxiliary request)。
去口審舉辦地參加現(xiàn)場口審，需要支付外所律師的代理費、交通費、食宿費等，因此口審的費用比較高，通常為普通OA費用的3-4倍。如果本申請的授權(quán)前景黯淡，代理人在向客戶提供答復(fù)建議時，需要提醒客戶是否有必要參加口審，以避免產(chǎn)生不必要的高額費用。
二、口審案例分享
1.審查意見
筆者曾處理過關(guān)于歐洲申請EP16869830.6的口審意見，該口審的發(fā)文日為2020年9月11日，遞交書面答復(fù)意見的期限為2020年12月23日，口審的舉辦日期為2021年1月26日，形式為視頻會議。
在審查意見中，審查員認(rèn)為上一通答復(fù)稿中修改后的權(quán)1仍然存在不清楚和缺乏創(chuàng)造性的問題。
關(guān)于不清楚，審查員認(rèn)為，根據(jù)權(quán)1，多個正極耳和多個負(fù)極耳形成極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)或極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)；根據(jù)權(quán)2（權(quán)1的從權(quán)），鋰離子電池電芯包括形成極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)的多個正極耳，權(quán)2對負(fù)極耳的設(shè)置沒有進(jìn)行限定，因此多個負(fù)極耳可以為疊合的或錯開排列的，即權(quán)2對應(yīng)于如下實施例：正極耳形成極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)，負(fù)極耳可以為疊合的或錯開排列的；根據(jù)權(quán)3（權(quán)2的從權(quán)），進(jìn)一步限定鋰離子電池電芯包括形成極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)的多個負(fù)極耳，因此，權(quán)1+權(quán)2+權(quán)3限定了包括多個正極耳和多個負(fù)極耳的鋰離子電池電芯，其中，正極耳和負(fù)極耳均形成極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)；根據(jù)權(quán)4（權(quán)3的從權(quán)），限定了多個正極耳或多個負(fù)極耳形成極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)。權(quán)4+權(quán)3限定了多個正極耳同時形成了極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)和極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)，且多個負(fù)極耳同時形成了極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)和極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)。說明書沒有與權(quán)4的技術(shù)方案對應(yīng)的實施例。此外，本申請說明書第54段有以下記載：通過以上公式計算出極耳的位置后，極耳向前向后移動一定的距離以形成極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)。這意味著，根據(jù)說明書，極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)和極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)是選擇關(guān)系，不是同時形成的。因此，權(quán)4不應(yīng)是權(quán)1至權(quán)3的從權(quán)。
關(guān)于創(chuàng)造性，審查員認(rèn)為權(quán)1中關(guān)于極耳間距離的限定公式未被對比文件公開，權(quán)1具有新穎性。但是，具有特定距離的極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)或極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)是現(xiàn)有技術(shù)中的電池結(jié)構(gòu)的顯而易見的替代方案，沒有產(chǎn)生相關(guān)的有益效果，因此，權(quán)1不具有創(chuàng)造性。
2.答復(fù)思路
關(guān)于權(quán)1同時記載關(guān)于極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)和極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)導(dǎo)致的不清楚的問題，經(jīng)與發(fā)明人溝通，極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)和極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)是選擇關(guān)系，不可能同時形成。為了克服不清楚的問題，筆者建議對權(quán)項重新進(jìn)行撰寫，將權(quán)1中的并列方案進(jìn)行拆分，撰寫一套關(guān)于極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu)的權(quán)項，正極耳間的距離通過d1=n1w-x1+(0.5πt∑n1-0.5πt)或d1=n3w+x1+[0.5πt∑(n3+1)-0.5πt]進(jìn)行限定；此外，撰寫一套關(guān)于極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)的權(quán)項，正極耳間的距離通過d1=n1w-x1+(0.5πt∑n1-0.5πt)或d1=n3w+x1+[0.5πt∑(n3+1)?0.5πt]進(jìn)行限定。
拆分后的獨權(quán)1(極耳疊合結(jié)構(gòu))和獨權(quán)6（極耳錯開排列結(jié)構(gòu)）如下：
1. A lithium-ion battery cell, comprising:
a positive plate;
a membrane; and
a negative plate, wherein
a plurality of positive lugs is arranged along a winding direction on the positive plate in a unfolded state, a plurality of negative lugs is arranged along the winding direction on the negative plate in a unfolded state, and
the positive plate and the negative plate are separated by the membrane and are wound to form the lithium-ion battery cell, the plurality of positive lugs forms a lug laminated structure, and the plurality of negative lugs forms a lug laminated structure,
and wherein the plurality of positive lugs is arranged in parallel in a direction along a length of the positive plate;
a first lug margin x1 indicates a distance between a first positive lug and a head of the positive plate relative to the winding direction, a distance between each of the positive lugs other than the first positive lug and the head of the positive plate is indicated by d1, with d1=n1w-x1+(0.5πt∑n1-0.5πt) or d1=n3w+x1+[0.5πt∑(n3+1)-0.5πt];
the lithium-ion battery cell is square, and the plurality of positive lugs forms the lug laminated structure;
where t indicates a sum of thicknesses of the positive plate, the membrane and the negative plate, w indicates a width of the cell, the first positive lug is the one of the positive lugs which is located closest to the head of the positive plate, n1 indicates that a positive lug is located at the n1-th w on the positive plate along a direction from the head to a tail of the positive plate, and n3 indicates that a positive lug is located at the (n3+1)-th w on the positive plate along the direction from the head to the tail of the positive plate.
6. A lithium-ion battery cell, comprising:
a positive plate;
a membrane; and
a negative plate, wherein
a plurality of positive lugs is arranged along a winding direction on the positive plate in a unfolded state, a plurality of negative lugs is arranged along the winding direction on the negative plate in unfolded state, and
the positive plate and the negative plate are separated by the membrane and are wound to form the lithium-ion battery cell, the plurality of positive lugs forms a lug staggered structure, and the plurality of negative lugs forms a lug staggered structure;
wherein
wherein intervals between adjacent staggered positive lugs in m1 positive lugs are the same; starting from the first one in the m1 positive lugs, d1 of the m1 positive lugs is decreased by a first interval value mq; wherein d1=n1w-x1+(0.5πt∑n1-0.5πt), q indicates an interval between two adjacent staggered positive lugs, m indicates a sequence number of a positive lug in the m1 positive lugs along a direction from the head to the tail of the positive plate, 1≤m≤m1; or
starting from the first one in the m1 positive lugs, d1 of each of the m1 positive lugs is increased by a first interval value mq; wherein d1=n3w+x1+[0.5πt∑(n3+1)?0.5πt], q indicates an interval between two adjacent staggered positive lugs, m indicates a sequence number of a positive lug in the m1 positive lugs along a direction from the head to tail of the positive plate 1≤m≤m1.
關(guān)于獨權(quán)缺乏創(chuàng)造性的問題，與口審之前的OA答復(fù)中的策略相似。爭辯權(quán)1和（權(quán)6）中記載的極耳間的距離公式d1未被現(xiàn)有技術(shù)公開，說明權(quán)1中限定的極耳設(shè)置方式不是本領(lǐng)域的慣用技術(shù)手段或公知常識；該區(qū)別技術(shù)特征所解決的技術(shù)問題為如何通過設(shè)置電池電芯中的極耳之間的間距以提高電池的倍率性能（即電池功率密度）。相較于之前的答復(fù)，對技術(shù)問題進(jìn)行了特別的具體化，使技術(shù)問題與區(qū)別技術(shù)特征之間建立了緊密的對應(yīng)關(guān)系。
3.答復(fù)結(jié)果
筆者根據(jù)上述答復(fù)思路進(jìn)行答復(fù)之后，審查員下發(fā)了授權(quán)通知，沒有進(jìn)行視頻會議形式的口審。
4.案例總結(jié)
針對題述口審意見在遞交書面答復(fù)意見之后直接獲得了授權(quán)，避免了以視頻會議形式進(jìn)行的口審，為申請人節(jié)省了費用。針對審查員指出的不清楚的審查意見，筆者經(jīng)與發(fā)明人溝通后將原權(quán)1的并列技術(shù)方案拆分為兩個獨權(quán)，較為徹底地解決了不清楚的問題；不清楚的問題解決之后，審查員對技術(shù)方案的理解更深入，也接受了關(guān)于創(chuàng)造性的爭辯（其實創(chuàng)造性的爭辯理由與之前的OA答復(fù)比較相似）。