These are all the Blogs posted in April, 2008.
April 4, 2008
USPTO Permanently Enjoined from Implementing the Continuation and Claims Rules
On April 1, 2008, the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an order permanently enjoining the USPTO from implementing rules which would have imposed limits on the number of continuation applications and the number of claims to which an applicant would be entitled.
The controversial rules would have limited applicants to 2 continuation applications and 1 RCE (the 2+1 Rule) and would have limited the number of claims to 5 independent claims and 25 total claims (the 5/25 Rule).
In determining that the rules were an unlawful extension of the USPTO’s rulemaking authority, the Court stated that the USPTO’s rulemaking authority does not extend to substantive rules, and because the rules are substantive in nature, that such rules are void as “otherwise not in accordance with law” and “in excess of statutory jurisdiction [and] authority.”
The rules were originally scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 2007, but were blocked shortly before the effective date by a temporary injunction issued by the court pending this latest decision.
By: Kenneth W. Fields
The controversial rules would have limited applicants to 2 continuation applications and 1 RCE (the 2+1 Rule) and would have limited the number of claims to 5 independent claims and 25 total claims (the 5/25 Rule).
In determining that the rules were an unlawful extension of the USPTO’s rulemaking authority, the Court stated that the USPTO’s rulemaking authority does not extend to substantive rules, and because the rules are substantive in nature, that such rules are void as “otherwise not in accordance with law” and “in excess of statutory jurisdiction [and] authority.”
The rules were originally scheduled to go into effect on November 1, 2007, but were blocked shortly before the effective date by a temporary injunction issued by the court pending this latest decision.
By: Kenneth W. Fields
