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804.01 Prohibition of Double Patenting Rejections Under - 800 Restriction in Applications Filed Under 35 U.S.C. 111; Double Patenting
804.01 Prohibition of Double Patenting Rejections Under
35 U.S.C. 121 authorizes the Commissioner to restrict the claims in a patent application to a single invention when independent and distinct inventions are presented for examination. The third sentence of 35 U.S.C. 121 prohibits the use of a patent issuing on an application with respect to which a requirement for restriction has been made, or on an application filed as a result of such a requirement, as a reference against any divisional application, if the divisional application is filed before the issuance of the patent. The 35 U.S.C. 121 prohibition applies only where the Office has made a requirement for restriction. The prohibition does not apply where the divisional application was voluntarily filed by the applicant and not in response to an Office requirement for restriction. This apparent nullification of double patenting as a ground of rejection or invalidity in such cases imposes a heavy burden on the Office to guard against erroneous requirements for restrictions where the claims define essentially the same invention in different language and which, if acquiesced in, might result in the issuance of several patents for the same invention.
The prohibition against holdings of double patenting applies to requirements for restriction between the related subjects treated in MPEP § 806.04 through § 806.05(i), namely, between combination and subcombination thereof, between subcombinations disclosed as usable together, between process and apparatus for its practice, between process and product made by such process and between apparatus and product made by such apparatus, etc., so long as the claims in each application are filed as a result of such requirement.
The following are situations where the prohibition of double patenting rejections under 35 U.S.C. 121 does not apply:
(A) The applicant voluntarily files two or more applications without a restriction requirement by the examiner. In re Schneller, 397 F.2d 350, 158 USPQ 210 (CCPA 1968).
(B) The claims of the different applications or patents are not consonant with the restriction requirement made by the examiner, since the claims have been changed in material respects from the claims at the time the requirement was made. For example, the divisional application filed includes additional claims not consonant in scope to the original claims subject to restriction in the parent. Symbol Technologies, Inc. v. Opticon, Inc., 935 F.2d 1569, 19 USPQ2d 1241 (Fed. Cir. 1991) and Gerber Garment Technology, Inc. v. Lectra Systems, Inc., 916 F.2d 683, 16 USPQ2d 1436 (Fed. Cir. 1990). In order for consonance to exist, the line of demarcation between the independent and distinct inventions identified by the examiner in the requirement for restriction must be maintained. 916 F.2d at 688, 16 USPQ2d at 1440.
(C) The restriction requirement was written in a manner which made it clear to applicant that the requirement was made subject to the nonallowance of generic or other linking claims and such generic or linking claims are subsequently allowed. Therefore, if a generic or linking claim is subsequently allowed, the restriction requirement must be withdrawn.
(D) The requirement for restriction (holding of lack of unity of invention) was only made in an international application by the International Searching Authority or the International Preliminary Examining Authority.
(E) The requirement for restriction was withdrawn by the examiner before the patent issues. In re Ziegler, 443 F.2d 1211, 170 USPQ 129 (CCPA 1971).
(F) The claims of the second application are drawn to the "same invention" as the first application or patent. Studiengesellschaft Kohle mbH v. Northern Petrochemical Co., 784 F.2d 351, 228 USPQ 837 (Fed. Cir. 1986).
While the situation should not arise where appropriate care is exercised in defining the independent and distinct inventions in a restriction requirement, the issue might arise as to whether 35 U.S.C. 121 prevents the use of a double patenting rejection when the identical invention is claimed in both the patent and the pending application. Under these circumstances, the Office will make the double patenting rejection because the patentee is entitled only to a single patent for an invention. As expressed in Studiengesellschaft Kohle, 784 F.2d at 361, 228 USPQ at 844, (J. Newman, concurring), " 35 U.S.C. 121 of course does not provide that multiple patents may be granted on the identical invention."
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