USPTO to Streamline Review of Ex Parte Reexamination Appeal Briefs

    By Sarah Fendrick --

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently published a notice in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 29321) announcing that the Office will streamline procedures for the review of appeal briefs in ex parte reexamination proceeding appeals.  The new procedures were implemented in an effort to increase the efficiency of the appeal process and to reduce the processing time of appeals in ex parte reexamination proceedings.  Under the new streamlined procedure, instead of examiners reviewing appeal briefs to determine if they comply with applicable regulations, the task will be completed by the Chief Judge of the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) or the Chief Judge's designee.  If the Chief Judge determines the appeal brief complies with the applicable regulations, the appeal brief will be forwarded to the examiner for consideration.  On the other hand, if the appeal brief is found to be noncompliant the Chief Judge will issue a notice of a noncompliant brief and require a corrected appeal brief.  Under the new streamlined procedures, the Chief Judge will also determine compliance of corrected appeal briefs.

By assigning the task to the Chief Judge, the USPTO aims to increase consistency in the determination of compliance of appeal briefs and in turn reducing the filing of corrective appeal briefs in ex parte reexamination proceeding appeals.  The streamlined procedure became effective on May 25, 2010 and to date, is only applicable to appeals in ex parte reexamination proceedings.  However, the USPTO is considering implementing the procedure for inter partes reexamination proceedings as well.

Comments

[James Demers]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but are we talking about the Chief Judge (or, almost certainly, his designee) doing what examiners ought to be doing, because the examiners aren't doing it right?