(1) The Federal Patent Court shall decide according to its independent conviction gained as an overall result of the proceedings. The decision shall state the grounds by which the judges were guided in coming to their conviction.
(2) The decision may be based only on facts and results of evidence on which the parties were able to comment.
(3) If prior oral proceedings took place, a judge who was not present at the last session of the oral proceedings may participate in the taking of the decision only with the consent of the parties.