US regulations rescinded

The controversial regulations which had been planned to come into force back in 2007 and among other things should restrict the number of claims have now been rescinded

As previously informed, David Kappos has been nominated as the new director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, USPTO, and in this connection it was hoped that Kappos would head a reformation of the US patent system.

As a step in the right direction towards a more user-oriented system, it has been informed that the very unpopular regulations which originally should have come into force on 1 November 2007 have been rescinded. These regulations which we have mentioned in several previous news announcements,  most recently on 9 May 2008, would have put restrictions on both the number of claims which could be included in a patent application and the number of the so-called "continuing applications" and would thus result in significant disadvantages and restrictions for applicants. Shortly before the commencement, an injunction was sought against the regulations in the US District Court of the Eastern District Court of Virginia which lead to "permanent rejection" of the regulations in the US District Court. However, the USPTO appealled this decision so until now there has been a risk of these restrictive regulations being implemented anyway.  

This risk has now been averted. But as it is indicated in the press release from the USPTO, we will most likely experience other regulations with a view to improving the efficiency with the USPTO, however hopefully in a more user-friendly form.

See the mentioned press release here.