The Court Blocks Implementation of the USPTO Rule
Changes
Today the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to block implementation of the USPTO rule changes that would have gone into effect tomorrow, November 1, 2007. Judge Cacheris, in a ruling from the bench, granted GSK’s motion and in effect stopped the USPTO from implementing the rule changes until further hearings on the merits of the suits filed by GSK and others could be scheduled. The USPTO had published final rule changes on August 21, 2007 that would have limited applicants to two continuations and one RCE as well as 5 independent and 25 total claims per application. Additionally the rule changes would have required applicants to identify applications with a common inventor and assignee in certain circumstances.
Summary supplied by
Nicholas P. Godici.
