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2254 Conduct of > - 2200 Citation of Prior Art and Ex Parte Reexamination of Patents
2254 Conduct of >Ex Parte< Reexamination Proceedings [R-2]
35 U.S.C. 305 Conduct of reexamination proceedings.
After the times for filing the statement and reply provided for by section 304 of this title have expired, reexamination will be conducted according to the procedures established for initial examination under the provisions of sections 132 and 133 of this title. In any reexamination proceeding under this chapter, the patent owner will be permitted to propose any amendment to his patent and a new claim or claims thereto, in order to distinguish the invention as claimed from the prior art cited under the provisions of section 301 of this title, or in response to a decision adverse to the patentability of a claim of a patent. No proposed amended or new claim enlarging the scope of a claim of the patent will be permitted in a reexamination proceeding under this chapter. All reexamination proceedings under this section, including any appeal to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, will be conducted with special dispatch within the Office.
37 CFR 1.550 Conduct of ex parte reexamination proceedings.
(a) All ex parte reexamination proceedings, including any appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, will be conducted with special dispatch within the Office. After issuance of the ex parte reexamination order and expiration of the time for submitting any responses, the examination will be conducted in accordance with §§ 1.104 through 1.116 and will result in the issuance of an ex parte reexamination certificate under § 1.570.
(b) The patent owner in an ex parte reexamination proceeding will be given at least thirty days to respond to any Office action. In response to any rejection, such response may include further statements and/or proposed amendments or new claims to place the patent in a condition where all claims, if amended as proposed, would be patentable.
(c) The time for taking any action by a patent owner in an ex parte reexamination proceeding will be extended only for sufficient cause and for a reasonable time specified. Any request for such extension must be filed on or before the day on which action by the patent owner is due, but in no case will the mere filing of a request effect any extension. See § 1.304(a) for extensions of time for filing a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit or for commencing a civil action.
**>(d) If the patent owner fails to file a timely and appropriate response to any Office action or any written statement of an interview required under § 1.560(b), the ex parte reexamination proceeding will be terminated, and the Director will proceed to issue a certificate under § 1.570 in accordance with the last action of the Office.<
(e) If a response by the patent owner is not timely filed in the Office,**>
(1) The delay in filing such response may be excused if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director that the delay was unavoidable; a petition to accept an unavoidably delayed response must be filed in compliance with § 1.137(a); or<
(2) The response may nevertheless be accepted if the delay was unintentional; a petition to accept an unintentionally delayed response must be filed in compliance with § 1.137(b).
(f) The reexamination requester will be sent copies of Office actions issued during the ex parte reexamination proceeding. After filing of a request for ex parte reexamination by a third party requester, any document filed by either the patent owner or the third party requester must be served on the other party in the reexamination proceeding in the manner provided by § 1.248. The document must reflect service or the document may be refused consideration by the Office.
(g) The active participation of the ex parte reexamination requester ends with the reply pursuant to § 1.535, and no further submissions on behalf of the reexamination requester will be acknowledged or considered. Further, no submissions on behalf of any third parties will be acknowledged or considered unless such submissions are:
(1) in accordance with § 1.510 or § 1.535; or
(2) entered in the patent file prior to the date of the order for ex parte reexamination pursuant to § 1.525.
(h) Submissions by third parties, filed after the date of the order for ex parte reexamination pursuant to § 1.525, must meet the requirements of and will be treated in accordance with § 1.501(a).
Once >ex parte< reexamination is ordered >pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 304< and the times for submitting any responses to the order have expired, no further active participation by a third party reexamination requester is allowed, and no third party submissions will be acknowledged or considered unless they are in accordance with 37 CFR 1.510. The reexamination proceedings will be ex parte, even if ordered based on a request filed by a third party, because this was the intention of the legislation. Ex parte proceedings preclude the introduction of multiple arguments and issues by the third party requester which are not within the intent of 35 U.S.C. 305 ("reexamination will be conducted according to the procedures established for initial examination under the provisions of sections 132 and 133 of this title"), and ex parte proceedings reduce possible harassment of the patent owner.
The patent owner may not file papers on behalf of the requester and thereby circumvent the intent of the >ex parte reexamination< legislation and the rules. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held in Emerson Elec. Co. v. Davoil, Inc., 88 F.3d 1051, 39 USPQ2d 1474 (Fed. Cir. 1996) that a federal district court does not have the authority to order a patent owner to file papers prepared by a third party in addition to the patent owner's own submission in a patent reexamination proceeding. Such papers prepared by the third party and filed by the patent owner will not be entered, and the entire submission will be returned to the patent owner as an inappropriate response. See MPEP § 2266 and § 2267.
The examination will be conducted in accordance with 37 CFR 1.104, 1.105, 1.110- 1.113, and 1.116 ( 35 U.S.C. 132 and 133) and will result in the issuance of a reexamination certificate under 37 CFR 1.570. The proceeding shall be conducted with special dispatch within the Office pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 305, last sentence. A full search will not routinely be made by the examiner. The third party reexamination requester will be sent copies of Office actions and the patent owner must serve responses on the requester. Citations submitted in the patent file prior to issuance of an order for reexamination will be considered by the examiner during the reexamination. Reexamination will proceed even if the copy of the order sent to the patent owner is returned undelivered. The notice under 37 CFR 1.11(c) is constructive notice to the patent owner and lack of response from the patent owner will not delay reexamination. See MPEP § 2230.
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