USPTO Late to Its Own Party

    By Sherri Oslick --

Trick or treat, USPTO.  An injunction from Eastern District of Virginia for your goodie bag.

Shortly after 12 noon EDT on Halloween day, October 31, Judge James C. Cacheris granted GSK's motion for preliminary injunction, enjoining the USPTO from implementing its new rules.  And yet, throughout the entirety of the afternoon, the PTO's "Reminder: Claims and Continuations Rules Effective Nov. 1" posting remained emblazoned on the front page of the USPTO website.  It took the PTO a full five hours, until shortly after 5 pm EDT, to remove this post from its site.  And it wasn't until a full hour later, shortly after 6 pm EDT, that the PTO posted a notice regarding the injunction.

That makes the USPTO five hours late to its own party.  And in this Patent Docs reporter's opinion, the PTO's failure to at least pull its "Reminder" post shortly after grant of the PI is just plain irresponsible.  The new rules represent, shall we say, a "significant" change in patent practice, and the public should have been timely informed of the return to status quo.  It is almost certainly safe to say that many patent practitioners and applicants were anxiously awaiting the results of the PI hearing; those unaware of the patent blog coverage of the hearing were undoubtedly expecting the PTO to make a timely announcement.  Alas, not only did the PTO fail to make an affirmative statement within a reasonable amount of time, they also left inaccurate information on their website for the entire afternoon.  Insert governmental inefficiency joke of your choice here.

Anyway, for those of you who have not yet seen the PTO announcement, here are the relevant passages:

On October 31, 2007, the United States District Court for the Eastern District Court of Virginia, however, issued a Preliminary Injunction enjoining the USPTO from implementing the changes in the Claims and Continuations Final Rule.  Therefore, the changes to the rules of practice in the Claims and Continuations Final Rule will not go into effect on November 1, 2007.

USPTO employees are to continue processing and examining patent applications under the rules and procedures in effect on October 31, 2007, until further notice.

This Web site will be updated and USPTO employees will be notified with further information as it becomes available.

For the PTO's full announcement, see its "Notice Regarding Claims and Continuations Rules."

Comments

[anonymous]

"It took the PTO a full five hours, until shortly after 5 pm EDT, to remove this post from its site. And it wasn't until a full hour later, shortly after 6 pm EDT, that the PTO posted a notice regarding the injunction."

Yes, but I'm sure as Lauren Wetzler and Brigid Quinn will be able to so eloquently point out to the judge and the media, the notice went up well before the close of business in California, and well before the close of lunch break (even for non-federal workers) in Hawaii.