Patent Law Practice Center

USPTO Proposes Overhaul To Patent Reexamination Proceedings

On Monday, April 25, 2011, the USPTO published a proposal in the Federal Register enumerating proposed changes being considered by the agency to streamline the proceedings governing ex parte and inter partes reexamination proceedings.  Scott McKeown, Partner at Oblon Spivak and Practice Center Contributor, sent in this article discussing the proposals.

June Meeting to Consider Proposed Changes

As discussed previously, the USPTO has been hard at work formulating proposed changes to patent reexamination that would reduce pendency and streamline these important office proceedings as a transitional step toward implementing the legislative changes of the America Invents Act. Tomorrow, the USPTO will publish a collection of working concepts and initiatives in the Federal Register. Based upon public commentary, the USPTO will later implement the various proposals via a formal rule-making process, or through internal policy changes. (an advance copy of the proposal is found here)

The proposals are directed to both ex parte and inter partes patent reexamination. Some of the more interesting proposals include an examiner identifying a representative SNQ from a group of cumulative SNQs, and a requirement that requesters explain how submitted SNQs are different with respect to each other. (See my January 2010 proposal of these very solutions here). (more…)