Federal Circuit Decision on Continuation Rules
The Federal Circuit finally spoke on the "Continuation Rules" that some patent holders have been worrying about for months. In Tafas and GlaxoSmithKline v. Doll, the plaintiffs sued the USPTO over its new continuation rules. Briefly, the rules would have severely limited the rights of patent holders to file "continuation" applications to pursue subject matter they feel are not adequately covered by their previously filed claims. After losing at the District Court level, the USPTO appealed to the Federal Circuit.
The Federal Circuit held that:
1) applicants can file as many continuation applications as they want;
2) the USPTO can limit the number of Requests for Continued Examinations; and
3) the USPTO can require Examination Support Documents.
