English
Recourse for Abuse of The Patent Reexamination Process?
–Guest Posting–
Mr. Raymond Mercado is a doctoral student in political science at Duke University
The Use and Abuse of Patent Reexamination
The presence of a threshold requirement (the “substantial new question of patentability” or “SNQ”) intended to protect patent holders from unwarranted reexamination proceedings reflects Congressional recognition that reexamination—like the patent application process—is susceptible to fraud and other misconduct. Yet, whereas the literature and caselaw dealing with inequitable conduct by patentees is vast, there has been surprisingly little exploration of misconduct on the part of reexamination requesters. My paper, The Use and Abuse of Patent Reexamination, attempts to fill this gap by examining the vulnerabilities of the reexamination process and the impact of unwarranted reexamination proceedings on patent holders.
Suppose that a third-party requester were to fabricate or mischaracterize prior art, for example by misrepresenting the publication date of an obscure reference, deliberately mistranslating a foreign reference, altering the drawings and figures, or simply by proffering an elaborate but objectively unreasonable interpretation of the prior art. Read the rest of this entry »
