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Article: New Rules For U.S. Patent Applications.(United States. Patent and Trademark Office)
- Article from:
- Mondaq Business Briefing
- Article date:
- August 24, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Mondaq Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Earlier today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published new rules for patent prosecution. The rules take effect on November 1, 2007, with some having retroactive effect. The new rules cover three general areas: 1) continuation practice, which allows an applicant to obtain additional patent protection for an invention by filing additional daughter applications within a patent family; 2) divisional practice, which allows an applicant to request patent protection for multiple different ideas disclosed in the same application; and 3) the examination of claims by the USPTO. The new rules represent a major shift in procedure, and different strategies will ...