USPTO Rulemaking Practices Being Called into Question (Again)
Patent Docs: By Kevin E. Noonan and Donald Zuhn — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has attempted (with varying levels of success) to implement a number of new rules packages in the past two years, including new continuation and claims rules, alternative claiming rules, and IDS rules, but none of these rules packages has been implemented as yet. One new rules package that has been published as a Final Rule in the Federal Register concerns changes in how rejected patent claims are appealed to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (see “New Appeals Rules Published”). This is the agency Board…