Follow up on USPTO's attempt to change the continuations rules -- Law Blog - WSJ.com : Patent Lawyers Do the Boogie as Court Shoots Down PTO Rules:
The PTO was seeking to streamline the application process and unclog a backlog of patent applications by reducing the number of claims and continuations allowed in a patent application. (Claims help define a patent, while continuations are used to amend patent claims and contest rejected patent claims.) Critics of the rules, according to reports, felt that the limitations on patent claims would mean that more complex patents would lose substance.
Yesterday [Tuesday], in a nod to administrative law, district judge James Cacheris voided the rules because, he wrote, the PTO doesn’t have the power to make the changes. Why? He ruled the changes were substantive, not procedural.
No word as to whether PTO will appeal. See the full Law Blog posting for links to further discussions.
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