The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will publish (tomorrow) in the Federal Register new rules that will allow the agency to continue to make the patent examination process more effective and efficient by encouraging applicants to use greater precision in describing the scope of their inventions. The new rules will be effective on November 1, 2007.
Under the new rules, applicants may file two new continuing applications and one request for continued examination as a matter of right. Also, under the new rules, each application may contain up to 25 claims, with no more than five of them independent claims, without any additional effort on the part of the applicant. Beyond these thresholds, however, the new rules require applicants to show why an additional continuation is necessary or to provide supplementary information relevant to the claimed invention to present additional claims.
The USPTO beleives that application quality will be improved, enhancing the quality and timeliness of both the examination process and issued patents. We shall see.
The new rules are available tomorrow, August 21, 2007, no later than noon, in the Federal Register. A webinar on the new rules is scheduled for Thursday, August 23, 2007. See Rule Changes to Focus the Patent Process in the 21st Century.
Previous News:
Another USPTO Rule Package Slowly Boxing In Applicants
OMB Approves Patent Changes, But to What Result?
Patent Holders Express Budget Concerns Over Proposed Patent Rule Changes
USPTO Proposes Limiting Continuations
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