Oliff & Berridge and the USPTO will be closed on Friday, December 25 in observance of the Christmas holiday.  Patent applications and other papers due in the USPTO, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and many U.S. District Courts on that day will be timely if filed on Monday, December 28.

Oliff & Berridge and the USPTO will be closed on Friday, January 1, 2010 in observance of a federal holiday.  Patent applications and other papers due in the USPTO, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and many U.S. District Courts on that day will be timely if filed on Monday, January 4, 2010.

Federal Circuit Dismisses Appeal Regarding the Proposed Rules on Continuations and Claims

On November 13, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("Federal Circuit") dismissed the en banc appeal from the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ("District Court") invalidating the previously-proposed Rules directed to the number of continuation applications, the number of claims that could be included in each application, and other related matters. The proposed Rules were rescinded by the new Director of the USPTO on October 8, but the appeal to the Federal Circuit remained pending. GlaxoSmithKline and the USPTO filed a joint motion to dismiss the appeal, and to vacate the District Court's decision that the USPTO did not possess the proper authority to make the Rules. Plaintiff Triantafyllos Tafas joined the parties' motion to dismiss, but objected to the vacatur. The Federal Circuit's decision grants the parties' joint motion to dismiss, but denies the joint motion for vacatur. The Federal Circuit's decision leaves intact the District Court's decision regarding the limits on the USPTO's rulemaking authority. The effects of the Federal Circuit's decision are that (1) these Rules cannot be re-proposed, and (2) the limits on the USPTO's rulemaking authority remain an open question.