USPTO Publishes New Patent Rules

In the August 21, 2007 issue of the Federal Register, the United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) published two new rule changes. Under the first rule, an applicant may file two new continuing applications and one request for continued examination as a matter of right. An applicant must submit justification of why new evidence was not previously submitted for any
third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application, as well as for any second or subsequent request for continued examination.

Under the second rule, an applicant must provide an examination support document to the USPTO that covers all of the claims if the application contains more than twenty-five total claims or more than five independent claims. The examination support document shall contain supplementary information relevant to the claimed invention and supporting the additional claims.

The USPTO anticipates the new rules should improve application quality and decrease patent examination time. The rules purportedly go into effect on November 1, 2007.