English
PEELING BACK THE LAYERS OF TANAKA: PATENT OWNER INITIATED REEXAMINATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO REISSUE
Ex Parte Tanaka, decided last December by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI), held that a reissue application was improper where the only defect identified in an issued patent was the failure to present additional dependent claims. The board reasoned that the mere addition of new dependent claims did not identify any defect in the issued patent. Although this decision is seemingly straight forward on its face, Tanaka may cause a significant shift in the workload internal to the USPTO.
With pendency of patent applications increasing and a growing inventory of applications awaiting appeal, a cynic would argue that Tanaka is a transparent attempt by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (“BPAI”) to reduce the number of pending reissue applications awaiting examination, and/or to short circuit applicant efforts to use patent reissue as a substitute for failing to keep a continuation application pending. Be that as it may be, an unintended consequence of Tanaka will likely be Read the rest of this entry »
