Judge Overturns Rule Changes to Streamline the Patent Process
A federal judge in Virginia has ruled the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office doesn’t have the authority to make rule changes designed to streamline the patent process.
Patent applicants had been “apoplectic” over the PTO proposal, which was designed to make the patent process more efficient by encouraging patent applicants to be more precise in describing their inventions, the Recorder reports. The rules would have limited the number of claims that applicants can file to help define a patent and the number of continuations they can file to amend patent claims.
U.S. District Judge James Cacheris of Alexandria ruled yesterday that the proposals were substantive in nature and beyond the PTO’s authority. The office can only make procedural changes to the rules, Cacheris said.
Cacheris had formerly issued an injunction that barred the rules from taking effect.
