Tafas v. Doll - Dissecting the Decision
05.20.09
Once again, patent practitioners are faced with uncertainty regarding the rules for filing patent applications. The saga of the PTO's rulemaking authority continued on March 20, 2009 when the Federal Circuit issued its 55 page decision in Tafas v. Doll holding that aside from the rule limiting continuations, the other rule changes were procedural in nature and the PTO does have the rule-making authority to implement the rules limiting the number of claims in each application, providing for Requests for Continued Examination (RCEs) and requiring Examination Support Documents (ESDs). What happens next is unclear, but the impact of these changes to the rules could be staggering - especially to the life sciences community and its ability to obtain patents to protect innovation in a potentially new patent regime.
This presentation provides an in-depth analysis of the recent decision, expert discussion of the next steps of the case, and what you can and should be doing now to prepare for these potential groundbreaking changes to patent protection.
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