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2239 Reexamination Ordered at the * >Director's< Initiative [R-2] - 2200 Citation of Prior Art and Ex Parte Reexamination of Patents
2239 Reexamination Ordered at the * >Director's< Initiative [R-2]
**>37 CFR 1.520 Ex parte reexamination at the initiative of the Director.
The Director, at any time during the period of enforceability of a patent, may determine whether or not a substantial new question of patentability is raised by patents or printed publications which have been discovered by the Director or which have been brought to the Director's attention, even though no request for reexamination has been filed in accordance with § 1.510 or § 1.913. The Director may initiate ex parte reexamination without a request for reexamination pursuant to § 1.510 or § 1.913. Normally requests from outside the Office that the Director undertake reexamination on his own initiative will not be considered. Any determination to initiate ex parte reexamination under this section will become a part of the official file of the patent and will be mailed to the patent owner at the address as provided for in § 1.33(c).<
The * >Director of the USPTO< may initiate reexamination without a request being filed and without a fee being paid. Such reexamination may be ordered at any time during the period of enforceability of the patent.
The decision to order reexamination at the * >Director's< initiative is normally made by the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy after a review of all the facts concerning the patent. It may also be made by the * >Director of the USPTO<, the Deputy * >Director< or the * Commissioner for Patents. The number of such ** >Director-initiated< orders is expected to be very small.
If an Office employee becomes aware of an unusual fact situation in a patent which he or she considers to clearly warrant reexamination, a memorandum setting forth these facts (including a proposed rejection of all appropriate claims) along with the patent file and any prior >art< patents or printed publications should be forwarded to the ** >Office of the Patent Legal Administration (OPLA)< through the >Technology Center (TC)< supervisory chain of command. A disk having the memorandum in electronic format should be included with the paper copy of the memorandum.
If an order to reexamine is to be issued, the decision is prepared in the ** >OPLA<. The decision is signed by the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy and mailed by the OPLA. The patent file is then forwarded to the reexamination preprocessing staff for preparation of the reexamination file and Official Gazette notice.
After the reexamination preprocessing staff of the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) has completed its preparation of the reexamination file, the file will be forwarded to the appropriate ** >TC<. Examination and prosecution will then proceed without further communication with anyone but the patent owner.
If the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy refuses to issue an order for reexamination, no record of any consideration of the matter will be placed in the patent file and the patent owner will not be notified.
The * >Director of the USPTO< will not normally consider requests to order reexamination at the * >Director's< initiative received from members of the public. If a member of the public desires reexamination, a request and fee should be filed in accordance with 37 CFR 1.510.
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