Reissue

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Limitations of Patent Reissue

As provided by 35 U.S.C. § 251, Patent Reissue is a mechanism by which a patent owner may correct an error in an issued patent. A proper reissue application is directed to an error that renders an issued patent wholly, or partly, inoperative. Such an error could be the mere absence of narrower dependent claims. In re Tanaka (CAFC 2011)

Although patent reissue allows for the correction of mistakes in claim scope, the proceeding is not a “do-over” of the original prosecution. For example, claim scope previously surrendered may not be “recaptured” via a broadening patent reissue. This same “public reliance” policy reasoning is utilized in other obscure aspects of patent reissue practice. For example, the Orita doctrine, prevents applicants from obtaining by reissue, claims that because of a requirement for restriction in which they had acquiesced, they could not claim in their patent. Last week, the CAFC explained yet another limitation on patent reissue practice, the “original patent” limitation of patent reissue. 
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Continue Reading CAFC Emphasizes Limitation on Patent Reissue Claim Scope

Requests for Comment Touch Upon Claim Construction Standards at the PTAB

Back in June, the USPTO issued a Request For Information (RFI) in the Federal Register. The Notice, entitled, Request for Comments on Trial Proceedings Under the America Invents Act Before the Patent Trial & Appeal Board posed 17 questions for consideration by those stakeholders involved in the patent challenge proceedings of the America Invents Act (AIA). Responses are due to the USPTO on September 16th, and, will be considered by the agency for the purpose of optimizing AIA trial proceedings going forward.

Over the next two weeks, I will explore the issues driving these queries as well as proposals for resolving problem areas. First up, is the question directed to claim construction, that is:

1. Under what circumstances, if any, should the Board decline to construe a claim in an unexpired patent in accordance with its broadest reasonable construction in light of the specification of the patent in which it appears?…
Continue Reading The PTAB Cannot Adopt a Phillips Claim Analysis for AIA Trial Proceedings

Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) Takes on Patent Reissue Workload

Yesterday, the USPTO issued an internal memo to the Examining Corps informing them that the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) would be taking responsibility for patent reissue applications going forward. (Memo here) This move was first considered some years back under Director Kappos to remedy the…

Stringent PTAB Amendment Process to Drive Patent Reissue Filings

As discussed previously, patent owners continue to struggle with the motion-based amendment requirements of the USPTO’s Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB). In recent months, patentees subject to Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Covered Business Method (CBM) challenges have begun exploring alternative USPTO avenues for presenting amendments. In particular, patentees are following the advice of the PTAB and initiating patent reissue and reexamination proceedings.

Patentees generally find patent reexamination more attractive than patent reissue. This is due to the special dispatch accorded a patent reexamination, the relatively narrow scope of prior art review, and insulation from 112 and 101 issues. However, as made clear recently, patent reissue may be the only escape for patentees struggling at the PTAB.…

Continue Reading Patent Reissue as an Alternative to PTAB Amendment Practice

USPTO Post Grant & PTAB Updates

In recent weeks the USPTO has issued updates on various aspects of post grant patent practice and PTAB performance. The PTAB reports that their significant backlog has not only stopped growing, but will soon begin shrinking thanks to the increased hiring of administrative patent judges (APJs). With a typical ex parte application appeal pending 2-3 years in many cases, this is welcome news for appellants. (presentation here)

On the post grant side, an update was provided on patent reissue practice. The presentation mostly recapped recent case law developments and changes to oath practice. (presentation here)

An update was also provided from the PTAB Trial Section on the patentability trials of the America Invents Act (AIA).
Continue Reading PTAB Updates on Post Grant Filings & Decreasing Backlog

Terminal Disclaimer Permanent Once Patent Issues

Back in January of 2011 I discussed the appeal decision in Ex parte Shunpei Yamazaki relative to patent reissue practice. In Yamazaki, a reissue patent application was filed shortly after issuance of U.S. Patent 6,180,991 for the purpose of withdrawing an earlier filed terminal disclaimer.

By way of background, the ‘991 patent issued on January 30, 2001 (based upon an application filed April 21, 1995). During the original prosecution, a terminal disclaimer was filed (November of 1996) to overcome a double patenting rejection. Thereafter, the claims subject to the earlier double patenting rejections were amended. Since the amended claims were believed to be distinct from those of the earlier patent, the Applicant petitioned to withdraw the earlier filed terminal disclaimer (April 1999). The petition remained pending for some 20+ months at the USPTO, but, the patent issued prior to any USPTO action on the petition filing. The petition was ultimately dismissed as moot once the ‘991 Patent issued.

Adding insult to injury, the USPTO explained in their belated petition decision that a terminal disclaimer could not be removed once a patent issues as patent reissue did not contemplate such mistakes as “error” under the reissue statute. In other words, even though the patent holder had disclaimed some 14 years of patent term by mistake, there was no mechanism to cure that mistake post issuance. Nevertheless, the Patentee filed a patent reissue application in an attempt to withdraw the terminal disclaimer.

In deciding the propriety of a patent reissue proceeding to remove a terminal disclaimer, an expanded panel of the BPAI (now PTAB) held that patent reissue could not reset the term of the original patent (which was set by the disclaimer). Interestingly, the BPAI decision also included concurring opinions that would have held differently had the patent not expired prior to completion of the reissue proceeding (December 2003).

Last week, the CAFC affirmed the USPTO, and made clear that patent reissue cannot withdraw a terminal disclaimer, even if the reissue proceeding were capable of concluding prior to expiration.
Continue Reading Patent Reissue Cannot Cure Mistaken Terminal Disclaimer

In re Youman Faults BPAI Recapture Analysis

Back in 2010, the BPAI rejected certain claims in Ex parte Youman as attempting to recapture previously surrendered subject matter via a patent reissue application. This case was noteworthy for several reasons, not the least of which was its 10+ year pendency before reaching a Board decision. A link to the earlier BPAI decision is found (here).

As a reminder, Youman sought to broaden certain means-plus-function elements of his issued patent, and modify language relating to the selection of displayed characters of an electronic program guide via a television remote control.

The originally issued claims recited a “selection means…cycling forward and backward” through displayed characters. This feature was added to distinguish over the art of record during the prosecution of the underlying patent application. In the patent reissue application (broadening), this language was broadened to using a wireless remote control for “changing from a first to a second character.” This change was rejected by the BPAI as an attempt to recapture previously surrendered subject matter.

In rejecting the claim as recapturing previously surrendered subject matter, the BPAI relied upon some of the same MPEP language (“overlooked aspects”) later criticized by the CAFC in In re Mostafazadeh. In its most recent consideration of the recapture doctrine, the CAFC focused on the claim language that must be analyzed in the third prong of the recapture test. …

Continue Reading CAFC Again Recalibrates Recapture Doctrine

Continuation Practice in Broadening Patent Reissue Applications Examined

Yesterday, the CAFC decided an important question pertaining to broadening patent patent reissue practice. (In re Staats, decision here). The issue before the Court was whether a broadening patent reissue application of Apple Computer Patent 5,940,600 was filed within the proscribed two year window.

During prosecution of the subject patent reissue application (a third, broadening continuation filing) the examiner rejected the claims under 35 U.S.C. 251 as presenting broadening claims outside of the proscribed two year window. The Office reasoned that the error in the original reissue filing (parent) was allegedly unrelated to the error presented for correction in the third filing…presented for the first time 7 years later. In essence, the Office argued that it is not enough to merely present a “place holder” intent to broaden within the proscribed two years only to file a continuation years later that attempts to broaden in “unforeseeable” ways.

The CAFC heard arguments on the BPAI decision back in September of 2011 and strongly hinted that earlier CCPA precedent would control the case. Not surprisingly, the Court reversed the USPTO based on previous precedent…
Continue Reading CAFC Reverses USPTO on Patent Reissue Dispute

In re Tanaka Decision Likely to Drive Two-Part Supplemental Examination Filing Strategy

During yesterday’s Strafford Legal webinar on the topic, I explained that Supplemental Examination (SE) is a mechanism of the AIA that is designed to effectively cure inequitable conduct via a new post grant proceeding of the USPTO. This mechanism, effective September 16, 2012 will be available to all issued patents.

In operation, SE allows a Patentee to submit very detailed explanations of potential issues that may serve to render the patent invalid under an inequitable conduct theory in litigation. Upon submission of Substantial New Questions of patentability (SNQs) detailing such potential defects, the Office will reconsider or correct such information; that is to say the Office will perform a “supplemental examination.”

If the SNQs of an SE request do not rise to the appropriate level to justify further proceedings, an SE certificate is issued stating such, and the proceeding concludes. Likewise, should SNQs be identified in the request for SE, a certificate is issued identifying such. Thereafter, a modified form of “re-examination” is initiated by the Office to explore the SNQs presented in the request. Should the Office determine that the identified SNQs do not preclude patentability in the reexamination phase, a reexamination certificate is issued to complement the SE certificate. Thus, SE is modeled on the same “but for” materiality standard pronounced in Therasense.

At first blush, the option to cure potential inequitable conduct issues seems an attractive option for Patentees. Yet, practically speaking, there may be very few instances in which an SE filing is advisable.…
Continue Reading Is Supplemental Examination a Risk Worth Taking?

Winter 2012 – New Rules

Early 2012 is shaping up to be an exciting time for patent law, particularly for those focused on post grant patent practice.

USPTO–As to the new rule packages necessary to implement the new post grant mechanisms of the America Invents Act (AIA), it is rumored that the supplemental examination…