In the mid-2000s, the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) determined that reexaminations would be more consistent and legally correct if performed by a centralized set of experienced and specially trained Examiners. As a result, the USPTO formed the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) and staffed it with 15 year+ Examiners and legal experts. Later, after the loss of Inter Partes Reexamination in 2012, the USPTO added all newly filed reissue applications to the CRU Examiner’s regime.
Sterne Kessler’s utility and design reissue, reexamination, and supplemental examination team will share practice tips and insights into prosecuting these proceedings before this specialized examination group within the USPTO.
This month, we discuss how obviousness-type double patenting has become a powerful weapon in reexamination practice and how filing a petition can be a critical tool for Patent Owners’ success during reexaminations by reviewing the basic general requirements of all petitions.
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