New Rules: USPTO May Have Underestimated Impact

On August 21, 2007, the USPTO issued final rules (1) limiting the number of continuation applications that can be filed without justification, and also (2) limiting the number of claims that can be presented in a given application without having to provide a detailed patentability analysis.

The USPTO believes that the new rules will improve the patent examination process and relieve the overwhelming backlog of pending patent applications, but may have underestimated the substantive impact the rules will have on patent Applicants.

Reprinted with permission from Portfolio Media, Inc.