[Federal Register: August 21, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 161)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 46715-46843] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr21au07-15] [[Page 46715]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Part II Department of Commerce ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Patent and Trademark Office ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 37 CFR Part 1 Changes To Practice for Continued Examination Filings, Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, and Examination of Claims in Patent Applications; Final Rule [[Page 46716]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Patent and Trademark Office 37 CFR Part 1 [Docket Nos.: PTO-P-2005-0022; PTO-P-2005-0023] RINs 0651-AB93; 0651-AB94 Changes To Practice for Continued Examination Filings, Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, and Examination of Claims in Patent Applications AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Commerce. ACTION: Final rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is revising the rules of practice in patent cases relating to continuing applications and requests for continued examination practices, and for the examination of claims in patent applications. The Office is revising the rules of practice to require that any third or subsequent continuing application that is a continuation application or a continuation-in-part application, and any second or subsequent request for continued examination in an application family, be filed to obtain consideration of an amendment, argument, or evidence, and be supported by a showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. The Office is also revising the rules of practice to provide that an applicant must provide an examination support document that covers all of the claims in an application if the application contains more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims. The Office is also revising the rules of practice with respect to multiple applications that have the same claimed filing or priority date, substantial overlapping disclosure, a common inventor, and common ownership. These changes will allow the Office to conduct a better and more thorough and reliable examination of patent applications. DATES: Effective Date: November 1, 2007. For applicability and compliance dates see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Office of Patent Legal Administration, by telephone at (571) 272-7704, by mail addressed to: Mail Stop Comments--Patents, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, or by facsimile to (571) 273-0100, marked to the attention of the Office of Patent Legal Administration. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office is revising the rules of practice in patent cases relating to continued examination filings (continuing applications and requests for continued examination), multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims, and the examination of claims in applications. The Office is revising the rules of practice for continuation applications, continuation-in-part applications and requests for continued examination. Under these revisions, an applicant may file two continuation applications (or continuation-in-part applications), plus a request for continued examination in the application family, without any justification. An application family includes the initial application and its continuation or continuation-in-part applications. Applicant may file any additional continuation application, continuation-in-part application, or request for continued examination with a justification. Specifically, the Office is revising the rules of practice to require a justification for any third or subsequent continuing application that is a continuation application or a continuation-in-part application, and any second or subsequent request for continued examination in an application family. The third or subsequent continuing application or request for continued examination must be filed with a petition showing why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. The Office is also revising the rules of practice for divisional applications. Under these revisions, an applicant is permitted to file a divisional application of an application for the claims to a non- elected invention that has not been examined if the application was subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. Thus, applicant may file the divisional application during the pendency of the application that was subject to a requirement for restriction or the pendency of any continuing application of such an application. Applicant may also file two continuation applications of the divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. A divisional application family includes the divisional application and its continuation applications. In addition, applicant may file any additional continuation application or request for continued examination in the divisional application family with a petition and adequate justification. The Office is also revising the rules of practice for the examination of claims in an application to provide that if the number of independent claims is greater than five or the number of total claims is greater than twenty-five, the Office will require the applicant to help focus examination by providing additional information to the Office in an examination support document covering all of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) in the application. The Office is also revising the rules of practice with respect to multiple applications that have patentably indistinct claims and a common assignee by either requiring that all patentably indistinct claims in such applications be submitted in a single application or effectively treating the multiple applications as a single application. These changes will mean more effective and efficient examination for the typical applicant without any additional work on the part of most applicants. However, in the applications that place an extensive burden on the Office, the applicant will be required to help focus examination by providing additional information to the Office. Applicability Dates: The changes to 37 CFR 1.75, 1.142(c), and 1.265 are applicable to any nonprovisional application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) on or after November 1, 2007, and to any nonprovisional application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after November 1, 2007. The changes to 37 CFR 1.75, 1.142(c), and 1.265 are also applicable to any nonprovisional application filed before November 1, 2007, in which a first Office action on the merits was not mailed before November 1, 2007. The changes to 37 CFR 1.117 are applicable to any nonprovisional application filed before, on, or after November 1, 2007, with respect to any fee under 37 CFR 1.16(h), (i), or (j) or 1.492(d), (e), or (f) paid on or after December 8, 2004. The changes to 37 CFR 1.78(a), 1.78(d)(1), 1.495 and 1.704(c)(11) are applicable only to any application, including any continuing application, filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) on or after November 1, 2007, or any application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after November 1, 2007. Except as otherwise indicated in this final rule, any application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) on or after November 1, 2007, or any application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. [[Page 46717]] 371 on or after November 1, 2007, seeking to claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) and 37 CFR 1.78 of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application must either: (1) Meet the requirements specified in one of 37 CFR 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(v); or (2) include a grantable petition under 37 CFR 1.78(d)(1)(vi). With respect to applications that claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) only of nonprovisional applications or international applications filed before August 21, 2007: an application is not required to meet the requirements set forth in 37 CFR 1.78(d)(1) if: (1) The application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) only of nonprovisional applications filed before August 21, 2007 or applications entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 before August 21, 2007; and (2) there is no other application filed on or after August 21, 2007 that also claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of such prior-filed nonprovisional applications or international applications. The changes to 37 CFR 1.114 are applicable to any application in which a request for continued examination is filed on or after November 1, 2007. Specifically, a petition under 37 CFR 1.114(g) must accompany any request for continued examination filed on or after November 1, 2007, in an application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed, or in a continuation application or continuation-in-part application of an application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed, or in an application whose benefit is claimed in a continuation application or continuation-in-part application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed. The changes to 37 CFR 1.17, 1.26, 1.52, 1.53, 1.76, 1.78 (except 1.78(a) and 1.78(d)(1)), 1.104, 1.105, 1.110, 1.136, 1.142(a), and 1.145 are applicable to any nonprovisional application pending on or after November 1, 2007. Compliance Date: For applications filed before November 1, 2007, applicants must comply with the requirements in 37 CFR 1.78(f)(1) within the time periods specified in 37 CFR 1.78(f)(1)(ii), or by February 1, 2008, whichever is later, and applicants must comply with the requirements in 37 CFR 1.78(f)(2) within the time periods specified in 37 CFR 1.78(f)(2)(iii), or by February 1, 2008, whichever is later. Table of Contents I. Background A. Changes to Practice for Continued Examination Filings B. Changes to Practice for Examination of Claims in Patent Applications C. Changes to Practice for Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims D. Retention of First Action Final Practice and Changes in Second Action Final Practice II. Discussion of Specific Rules This final rule amends the following sections in title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): Sec. Sec. 1.17, 1.26, 1.52, 1.53, 1.75, 1.76, 1.78, 1.104, 1.105, 1.110, 1.114, 1.136, 1.142, 1.145, 1.495, and 1.704. This final rule adds Sec. Sec. 1.117, and 1.265 to title 37 of the CFR. III. Response to Comments A. Changes to Continuing Application Practice B. Treatment of Third and Subsequent Continuation or Continuation-In-Part Applications C. Treatment of Second and Subsequent Requests for Continued Examination D. Petitions Related to Additional Continuation Applications, Continuation-In-Part Applications, and Requests for Continued Examination E. Treatment of Multiple Applications F. Changes to Practice for Examination of Claims G. Number of Independent and Total Claims Permitted Without an Examination Support Document H. Examination Support Document Requirements I. The Office's Authority to Promulgate the Changes in this Final Rule J. Changes to Internal Practice K. Suggestions Relating to Legislative Changes L. Effective Date of the Changes in this Final Rule M. Miscellaneous IV. Rule Making Considerations A. Administrative Procedure Act B. Regulatory Flexibility Act C. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism) D. Executive Order 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) E. Executive Order 13175 (Tribal Consultation) F. Executive Order 13211 (Energy Effects) G. Executive Order 12988 (Civil Justice Reform) H. Executive Order 13045 (Protection of Children) I. Executive Order 12630 (Taking of Private Property) J. Congressional Review Act K. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 L. National Environmental Policy Act M. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act N. Paperwork Reduction Act I. Background In view of the need for a better focused and effective examination process to reduce the large and growing backlog of unexamined applications while maintaining or improving the quality of issued patents, the Office published two notices in January of 2006 proposing changes to the practice for continuing applications, requests for continued examination, multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims, and the examination of claims in applications. See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR 48 (Jan. 3, 2006), 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1318 (Jan. 24, 2006) (proposed rule) (hereinafter ``Continuing Applications Proposed Rule'') and Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR 61 (Jan. 3, 2006), 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1329 (Jan. 24, 2006) (proposed rule) (hereinafter ``Claims Proposed Rule''). Both the Continuing Applications Proposed Rule and the Claims Proposed Rule requested public comments and provided a comment period of four months to give the public an opportunity to submit written comments. The Office provided this extended comment period to ensure that the public would have sufficient time to submit written comments on the proposed changes to the rules of practice and to ensure that the Office would receive comments from all interested persons and organizations. In addition to the notices and requests for written comments, the Office conducted public meetings including town hall meetings and presentations at various locations in the United States to discuss the proposed changes and obtain feedback from the public. The Office received over five hundred written comments from government agencies, universities, intellectual property organizations, industry, law firms, individual patent practitioners, and the general public. The Office has spent nearly one year carefully analyzing and considering all of the written comments that were received. The comments and the Office's responses to the comments are provided in Section III, Response to Comments. In response to the comments, the Office has made appropriate modifications to the proposed changes to balance the interests of the public, patent owners, applicants, practitioners, and other interested parties with the need to reduce the large and growing backlog of unexamined patent applications, improve the quality of issued patents, and make the patent examination process more effective. Under the proposed changes, applicants would have been permitted to file one of the following without any [[Page 46718]] justification: A continuation application, a continuation-in-part application, or a request for continued examination. By contrast, this final rule permits applicants to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Applicant may file any additional continuing application or request for continued examination with a justification. Under the proposed changes, about eleven percent of the applications and requests for continued examination filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required a justification, where under the changes being adopted in this final rule less than three percent of the applications and requests for continued examination filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required a justification. The proposed changes would have permitted applicants to file a divisional application of an application for the claims to a non- elected invention if the application is subject to a requirement for restriction and the divisional application is filed during the pendency of that application. However, this final rule permits applicant to file a divisional application of an application if the application is subject to a requirement for restriction and the divisional application meets the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120. Thus, this final rule allows applicants to file divisional applications in series whereas the proposed rule would have required applicants to file divisional applications in parallel. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application, plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Under the proposed changes, about thirteen percent of divisional applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would need to have been filed earlier, where the changes being adopted in this final rule would not have required any of the divisional applications filed in fiscal year 2006 to have been filed earlier. The proposed changes would have required applicant to provide an examination support document before the first Office action on the merits if applicant designated more than ten representative claims including all of the independent claims in the application for initial examination. The Office received a substantial number of comments from the public opposing this ``representative claims'' examination approach and suggesting that the Office should simply adopt a threshold to invoking the examination support document requirement based upon whether an application contains more than a given number of independent and total claims. The Office took those comments into consideration and adopted a similar approach. This final rule requires an applicant to submit an examination support document before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application to assist in the patentability determination when the applicant presents more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in an application. This final rule also encourages applicant to submit all of the claims that are patentably indistinct in one single application and requires applicant to identify multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims (same as the proposed rule). Therefore, for each invention, an applicant is permitted to present up to fifteen independent claims and seventy-five total claims via an initial application and two continuation or continuation-in-part applications without providing either an examination support document or justification, as long as those applications are either prosecuted serially or contain patentably distinct claims. An examination support document must include a preexamination search statement, a listing of references deemed most closely related to the subject matter of each of the claims, an identification of all of the claim limitations that are disclosed in the references, a detailed explanation particularly pointing out how each of the independent claims is patentable over the cited references, and a showing of where each claim limitation finds support under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the application and any prior- filed application. The examination support document will assist the Office in the examination process and the determination of patentability of the invention by providing the most relevant prior art and other useful information. Under the proposed changes, about one percent of the applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required either the cancellation of one or more independent claims or an examination support document. Furthermore, about eighty percent of the applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required either a designation of dependent claims for initial examination or an examination support document. Under the changes being adopted in this final rule, less than eight percent of the applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required either the cancellation of one or more independent claims or an examination support document. In addition, less than twenty-five percent of the applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would have required either the cancellation of one or more dependent claims or an examination support document. However, by prosecuting an initial application and two continuation applications serially, about ninety-five percent of the applications filed in fiscal year 2006 would not have required either the cancellation of any claims or an examination support document. A. Changes to Practice for Continued Examination Filings The volume of continued examination filings (including both continuing applications and requests for continued examination) and duplicative applications that contain ``conflicting'' or patentably indistinct claims, is having a crippling effect on the Office's ability to examine ``new'' (i.e., non-continuing) applications. Continued examination filings, other than divisional applications, as a percentage of overall filings, has increased from about 11.4 percent in fiscal year 1980, to about 18.9 percent in fiscal year 1990, to 21.9 percent in fiscal year 2000, to 29.4 percent in fiscal year 2006. The cumulative effect of these continued examination filings is too often to divert patent examining resources from the examination of new applications disclosing new technology and innovations, to the examination of applications that are a repetition of prior applications that have already been examined and have either issued as patents or become abandoned. In addition, when the continued examination process fails to reach a final resolution, and when multiple applications containing claims to patentably indistinct inventions are filed, the public is left with an uncertainty as to what the set of patents resulting from the initial application will cover. Thus, these practices impose a burden on innovation both by retarding the Office's ability to examine new applications and by undermining the function of claims to notify the public as to what technology is or is not available for use. Commentators have noted that an applicant's use of the unrestricted continuing application and request for continued examination practices may preclude the Office from ever finally rejecting an application or even from ever finally allowing an application. See Mark A. Lemley and Kimberly A. Moore, Ending Abuse of Patent [[Page 46719]] Continuations, 84 B.U. L. Rev. 63, 64 (2004). The burden imposed by the repetitive filing of applications (as continuing applications) on the Office (as well as on the public) is not a recent predicament. See To Promote the Progress of Useful Arts, Report of the President's Commission on the Patent System, at 17-18 (1966) (recommending changes to prevent the repetitive filing of dependent (i.e., continuing) applications). Unrestricted continued examination filings and multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims, however, are now having such an impact on the Office's ability to examine new applications that it is appropriate for the Office to clarify the applicant's duty to advance applications to final action by placing some conditions on the filing of multiple continuing applications, requests for continued examination, and other multiple applications to the same invention. See 35 U.S.C. 2(b) (authorizes the Office to establish regulations, not inconsistent with law, which shall govern the conduct of proceedings in the Office, and shall facilitate and expedite the processing of patent applications). The changes in this final rule will permit the Office to apply the patent examining resources otherwise consumed by these applications to the examination of new applications and thereby reduce the backlog of unexamined applications. The Office also notes that not every application as filed particularly points out and distinctly claims what the applicant regards as his or her invention. For example, this may occur where the applicant's attorney or agent has not adequately reviewed or revised the application documents received from the applicant. Applicants frequently file literal translations of foreign documents as applications, resulting in problems with compliance with U.S. patent law, such as the written description requirement, as well as problems with formatting and presentation of the claims. In these situations, examination of what applicants actually regard as their invention may not begin until after one or more continued examination filings. Applicants should not rely on an unlimited number of continued examination filings to correct deficiencies in the claims and disclosure that applicant or applicant's representative could have corrected earlier. In addition, while only a small minority of applications are a third or subsequent continuing application, it appears that some applicants and practitioners have used multiple continued examination filings as a strategy to delay the conclusion of examination. The Office, however, considers such a strategy to be a misuse of continued examination practice. Specifically, the Office considers such a strategy to be inconsistent with an applicant's and practitioner's duty under 37 CFR 10.18(b)(2)(i) not to submit an application or other filing to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office. This misuse of continued examination practice also prejudices the public by keeping applications in pending status while awaiting developments in similar or parallel technology and then later amending their applications to cover these developments. The courts have permitted the addition of claims, when supported under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, to encompass products or processes later discovered in the marketplace. See PIN/NIP, Inc. v. Platt Chemical Co., 304 F.3d 1235, 1247, 64 U.S.P.Q.2d 1344, 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2002). However, the practice of maintaining continuing applications to delay the conclusion of examination for the purpose of adding claims after such discoveries is inconsistent with the duty under 37 CFR 10.18(b)(2)(i) not to submit filings to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office. The Office, in light of its backlog and anticipated continued increase in application filings, is making every effort to become more efficient. Achieving greater efficiency requires the cooperation of those who provide the input into the examination process, the applicants and their representatives. In the Continuing Applications Proposed Rule, the Office proposed to change the rules of practice to require that: (1) Any second or subsequent continued examination filing (continuation or continuation- in-part application or request for continued examination) include a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence could not have been submitted prior to the close of prosecution after a single continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination; and (2) multiple applications that have the same claimed filing or priority date, substantial overlapping disclosure, a common inventor, and a common assignee include either an explanation of how the claims are patentably distinct, or a terminal disclaimer and explanation of why patentably indistinct claims have been filed in multiple applications. In response to the comments on the proposed changes to the practices for continued examination filings, the Office has modified these provisions relative to proposed changes. Under this final rules, an applicant may instead file two continuation applications (or two continuation-in-part applications, or one continuation application and one continuation-in-part application), plus a request for continued examination in any one of the initial application or two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, without any justification. Any additional continuation application, continuation-in-part application, or request for continued examination, however, must be filed to obtain consideration of an amendment, argument, or evidence, and be supported by a showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. This final rule would also ease the burden of examining multiple applications that have the same claimed filing or priority date, substantial overlapping disclosure, a common inventor, and common assignee by requiring that all patentably indistinct claims in such applications be submitted in a single application absent good and sufficient reason. As discussed previously, the unrestricted continued examination practice and the filing of multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims are impairing the Office's ability to examine new applications without real certainty that these practices effectively advance prosecution, improve patent quality, or serve the typical applicant or the public. These changes to the rules in title 37 of the CFR are intended to ensure that continued examination filings are used efficiently to move applications forward. The Office expects that the changes to the rules of practice in this final rule will: (1) Lead to more focused and efficient examination, improve the quality of issued patents, result in patents that issue faster, and give the public earlier notice of what the patent claims cover; and (2) address the growing practice of filing (by a common applicant or assignee) multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims. 35 U.S.C. 111(a) and 120, respectively, permit an applicant to file a nonprovisional application and to claim the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional application. Similarly, 35 U.S.C. 363 and 365(c), respectively, permit an applicant to file an international application under Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Article 11 and 35 U.S.C. 363 and, if the international application designates the United States of America, to claim the benefit of a prior-filed international application [[Page 46720]] designating the United States of America or a prior-filed nonprovisional application. Similarly again, 35 U.S.C. 111(a) and 365(c) permit an applicant to file a nonprovisional application (filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a)) and to claim the benefit of a prior-filed international application designating the United States of America (under 35 U.S.C. 365(c)). 35 U.S.C. 120 is generally considered the statutory basis for continuing application practice. See Symbol Techs., Inc. v. Lemelson Med., 277 F.3d 1361, 1365, 161 U.S.P.Q.2d 1515, 1518 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (35 U.S.C. 120 and 121 form the backbone of modern continuation and divisional application practice) (Symbol I). Nothing in 35 U.S.C. 120 or its legislative history suggests that the Office must or even should permit an applicant to file an unlimited number of continuing applications without any justification. The practice of filing ``continuation applications'' arose early in Office practice mainly as a procedural device to effectively permit the applicant to amend an application after a rejection and receive an examination of the ``amended'' (or new) application. See In re Bogese, 22 U.S.P.Q.2d 1821, 1824 (Comm'r Pats. 1991) (Bogese I). The concept of a continuation application per se was first recognized in Godfrey v. Eames, 68 U.S. (1 Wall.) 317, 325-26 (1864). See Bogese I, 22 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1824. 35 U.S.C. 120 is a codification of the continuation application practice recognized in Godfrey v. Eames. See id. (citing In re Hogan, 559 F.2d 595, 603, 194 U.S.P.Q. 527, 535 (C.C.P.A. 1977)). An applicant should understand, however, that he or she does not have an unfettered right to file multiple continuing applications without making a good faith attempt to claim the applicant's invention. 35 U.S.C. 2(b) gives the Director the inherent authority to promulgate regulations to ensure that applicants prosecute applications in good faith. Moreover, by assuming that an unlimited number of continuations are available, applicants have slipped into unfocused practices in prosecution that impede the Office's ability to conduct effective examination. Such practices likewise cause delays in prosecution and increase the cost of examination, both of which are contrary to an applicant's duties under the rules of conduct before the Office set forth in 37 CFR Part 10. The changes in this final rule do not set a per se limit on the number of continuing applications. Nor are the changes intended to address extreme cases of prosecution laches or to codify In re Bogese, 303 F.3d 1362, 1369, 64 U.S.P.Q.2d 1448, 1453 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (Bogese II). Rather, the rules require that applicants who file multiple continuing applications from the same initial application show that the third and following applications, and any second or subsequent request for continued examination in an application family, be filed to obtain consideration of an amendment, argument, or evidence that could not have been previously submitted. Likewise, the Office is putting conditions on request for continued examination practice. 35 U.S.C. 132(b) provides for the request for continued examination practice set forth in Sec. 1.114. Unlike continuation application practice, the request for continued examination practice was recently added to title 35, United States Code, in section 4403 of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA). See Public Law 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501, 1501A-560 (1999). 35 U.S.C. 132(b) provides, inter alia, that the Office ``shall prescribe regulations to provide for the continued examination of applications for patent at the request of the applicant.'' Nothing in 35 U.S.C. 132(b) or its legislative history suggests that the Office must or even should permit an applicant to file an unlimited number of requests for continued examination in an application. Therefore, this final rule allows applicants to file their first request for continued examination in an application family without any justification, but requires applicants to justify the need for any further requests for continued examination in light of the past prosecution. The Office appreciates that appropriate continued examination practice permits an applicant to obtain further examination and advance an application to final action. The unrestricted continued examination practice, however, does not provide adequate incentives to assure that the exchanges between an applicant and the examiner during the examination process are efficient. The marginal value vis-[agrave]-vis the patent examination process as a whole of exchanges between an applicant and the examiner during the examination process tends to decrease after each additional continued examination filing. The Office resources absorbed by the examination of additional continued examination filings are diverted away from the examination of new applications, thus increasing the backlog of unexamined applications. The Office also appreciates that applicants sometimes use continued examination practice to obtain further examination rather than file an appeal to avoid the delays that historically have been associated with the appeal process. The Office, however, has taken major steps to eliminate such delays. First, the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) has radically reduced the inventory of pending appeals and appeal pendency during the last five fiscal years. Second, the Office has adopted an appeal conference program to review the rejections in applications in which an appeal brief has been filed. See Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) Sec. 1207.01 (8th ed. 2001) (Rev. 5, August 2006). Third, the Office has also adopted a pre- appeal brief conference program to permit an applicant to request that a panel of examiners review the rejections in his or her application prior to the filing of an appeal brief. See New Pre-Appeal Brief Conference Program, 1296 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 67 (July 12, 2005), and Extension of the Pilot Pre-Appeal Brief Conference Program, 1303 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 21 (Feb. 7, 2006). These changes provide for a relatively expeditious review of rejections in an application under appeal. Thus, for an applicant faced with a rejection that he or she feels is improper, the appeal process offers a more effective resolution than seeking continued examination before the examiner. This final rule also provides that an applicant may file a divisional application directed to each non-elected invention that has not been examined if the prior-filed application is subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. This final rule, however, does not permit a ``divisional'' application to be filed if it is not the result of a requirement for restriction in the prior-filed application (a so-called ``voluntary'' divisional application). Such a ``voluntary'' divisional application would be a continuation application, and subject to the requirements for continuation applications, under the changes in this final rule. B. Changes to Practice for Examination of Claims in Patent Applications A number of patent applications contain a large number of claims, which makes efficient and effective [[Page 46721]] examination of such applications problematic. The Office previously requested comments in 1998 on a proposal to limit the number of independent and total claims that would be examined in an application. See Changes to Implement the Patent Business Goals, 63 FR 53497, 53506- 08 (Oct. 5, 1998), 1215 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 87, 95-97 (Oct. 27, 1998). Specifically, in 1998, the Office requested comments on a proposal to change the rules of practice to: (1) Limit the number of total claims that will be examined (at one time) in an application to forty; and (2) limit the number of independent claims that will be examined (at one time) in an application to six. See Changes to Implement the Patent Business Goals, 63 FR at 53506, 1215 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 95. Under the 1998 proposal, if the applicant presented more than forty total claims or six independent claims for examination at one time, the Office would withdraw the excess claims from consideration, and require the applicant to cancel those claims. See id. The Office, however, ultimately decided not to proceed with a proposed change to Sec. 1.75 to place an absolute limit on the number of total and independent claims that would be examined in an application. See Changes to Implement the Patent Business Goals, 64 FR 53771, 53774-75 (Oct. 4, 1999), 1228 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 15, 17-18 (Nov. 2, 1999). Applications which contain a large number of claims, however, continue to absorb an inordinate amount of patent examining resources, as they are extremely difficult to properly process and examine. As a result, contrary to the proposal under consideration in 1998, the Claims Proposed Rule sought a change to the practice for examination of claims that would not place a limit on the number of total or independent claims that may be presented for examination in an application. The Office proposed in the Claims Proposed Rule to revise the practice for the examination of claims in an application as follows: (1) The Office would give an initial examination only to the representative claims, namely, all of the independent claims and only the dependent claims that are expressly designated for initial examination; and (2) if the number of representative claims is greater than ten, the Office would require the applicant to help focus examination by submitting an examination support document covering all of the representative claims. See Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR at 61-69, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1329-35. The Office received a substantial number of comments from the public opposing the proposed ``representative claims'' examination approach and suggesting that the Office should simply adopt a strategy based upon whether an application contains more than a given number of independent and total claims. As a result of the public comments on the Claims Proposed Rule, the Office is not adopting the ``representative claims'' examination approach. Instead, this final rule provides that if the number of independent claims is greater than five or the number of total claims is greater than twenty-five, the applicant must help focus examination by providing an examination support document covering all of the claims in the application (whether in independent or dependent form) before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application. An applicant may present up to five independent claims and twenty-five total claims in an initial application and each continuation or continuation-in-part application without providing either an examination support document or justification, as long as those applications are either prosecuted serially or contain patentably distinct claims. Thus, an applicant may present up to fifteen independent claims and seventy-five total claims to a single patentably distinct invention via an initial application and two continuation or continuation-in-part applications that are filed and prosecuted serially without providing either an examination support document or a justification. Furthermore, an applicant may present up to fifteen independent claims and seventy-five total claims via a divisional application and its two continuation applications without providing either an examination support document or a justification, if the Office issues a restriction requirement in the prior-filed application. Thus, the change to the practice for examination of claims adopted in this final rule avoids placing a limit on the number of total or independent claims that may be presented for examination in an application, but does require an applicant who presents more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in an application to help focus examination by providing additional information to the Office in an examination support document. If an applicant thinks fifteen independent claims or seventy-five total claims to an invention is not sufficient, or if applicant wishes to present more than five independent claims or twenty-five total claims in any one application, then applicant has the option of presenting as many independent and total claims as desired by providing an examination support document. The examination support document will assist the examiner in examining the application and determining the patentability of a claimed invention by providing the most relevant prior art and other useful information. Specifically, the examination support document will assist the examiner in understanding the invention and interpreting the claims before conducting a prior art search. The examination support document will also assist the examiner in evaluating the prior art cited by the applicant and in determining whether a claim limitation has support in the original disclosure and in any prior-filed application. An examination support document must be filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application. This is so that the information concerning the invention will be available when the Office begins the examination process, and thus avoids the piecemeal examination that would result if the examination support document were not provided until after the first Office action on the merits in the application. C. Changes to Practice for Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims The changes in this final rule also require that applicants provide additional information to the Office when they file multiple applications containing ``conflicting'' or patentably indistinct claims. The rules of practice provided that ``[w]here two or more applications filed by the same applicant contain conflicting claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application.'' See 37 CFR 1.78(b) (2006). This final rule provides that an applicant must identify other pending applications or patents that are commonly owned, have a common inventor, and have a claimed filing or priority date within two months of the claimed filing or priority date of the application. This requirement does not supplant an applicant's duty to bring other applications that are ``material to patentability'' of an application (e.g., applications containing patentably indistinct claims) to the attention of the examiner. See Dayco Prod., Inc. v. Total [[Page 46722]] Containment, Inc., 329 F.3d 1358, 1365-69, 66 U.S.P.Q.2d 1801, 1806-08 (Fed. Cir. 2003); see also MPEP Sec. 2001.06(b). Thus, applicants are cautioned against intentionally filing related applications outside of this two-month window in an attempt to avoid the requirement to identify other applications that are material to the patentability of the application at issue. See Cargill, Inc. v. Canbra Foods, Ltd., 476 F.3d 1359, 1367-68, 81 U.S.P.Q.2d 1705, 1711 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (there is no such thing as a good faith intent to deceive). This final rule provides that if there are other pending applications or patents that are commonly owned and have a common inventor, substantial overlapping disclosures, and the same claimed filing or priority date, the Office will presume that the applications contain patentably indistinct claims. In such a situation, the applicant must either rebut this presumption by explaining how the applications contain patentably distinct claims, or submit the appropriate terminal disclaimers and explain why two or more pending applications containing ``conflicting'' or patentably indistinct claims should be maintained. The Office proposed a provision that if an application contains at least one claim that is patentably indistinct from at least one claim in one or more other applications or patents, the Office would (if certain conditions were met) treat the independent claims and the dependent claims designated for initial examination in the first application and in each of such other applications or patents as present in each of the applications for purposes of determining whether the applicant would be required to submit an examination support document. See Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR at 64, 68, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1331, 1334. This final rule provides that if multiple applications, including applications having a continuity relationship, contain patentably indistinct claims, the Office will treat the multiple applications as a single application for purposes of determining whether each of the multiple applications exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. This provision is to preclude an applicant from submitting multiple applications with claims that are patentably indistinct, each with five or fewer independent claims or twenty-five or fewer total claims, for the purposes of avoiding the requirement to submit an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265. The Office, however, will not count the claims in issued patents that contain patentably indistinct claims in determining whether a pending application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. Nevertheless, those patentably indistinct claims would still be subject to a double patenting rejection. D. Retention of First Action Final Practice and Changes in Second Action Final Practice The Office has a first action final rejection practice under which the first Office action in a continuing application, or in the prosecution of a request for continued examination, may be made final under certain circumstances. See MPEP Sec. 706.07(b) and 706.07(h), paragraph VIII. The Office proposed to eliminate this practice in continuing applications under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) and in requests for continued examination under 35 U.S.C. 132(b) as unnecessary in view of the proposed changes to continuing applications and requests for continued examination practice that would permit an applicant to file only one continuing application or request for continued examination without any justification. See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR at 51, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1321. This final rule, however, provides that an applicant may file a request for continued examination in either the initial application or either of the two continuing applications without any justification. Therefore, the Office is retaining its first action final rejection practice. Applicants, however, are reminded that it would not be proper for the Office to make a first Office action final in a continuing application or after a request for continued examination if the application contains material which was presented after final rejection or the close of prosecution but was denied entry because: (1) new issues were raised that required further consideration and/or search; or (2) the issue of new matter was raised. See MPEP Sec. 706.07(b) and 706.07(h). Thus, applicants may guard against first action final rejection in a continuing application or after a request for continued examination by first seeking entry of the amendment, argument, or new evidence under Sec. 1.116. The Office is also not changing the final action practice for the Office action following a submission under Sec. 1.129(a). See Changes to the Transitional Procedures for Limited Examination After Final Rejection in Certain Applications Filed Before June 8, 1995, 70 FR 24005 (May 6, 2005), 1295 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 22 (Jun. 7, 2005) (notice). The Office is revising second action final practice as it pertains to second or subsequent Office actions that include a new double patenting rejection (either statutory or obviousness-type double patenting). Double patenting can arise when a party (or parties to a joint research agreement under the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement Act of 2004 (CREATE Act), Public Law 108-453, 118 Stat. 3596 (2004)) has filed multiple patent applications containing patentably indistinct claims. The applicant (or the owner of the application) is in a far better position than the Office to determine whether there are one or more other applications or patents containing patentably indistinct claims. For this reason, when an applicant files multiple applications that are substantially the same, the applicant is responsible for assisting the Office in resolving potential double patenting situations, rather than taking no action until faced with a double patenting rejection. Thus, if an Office action must include a double patenting rejection, it is because the applicant has not met his or her responsibility to resolve the double patenting situation. Therefore, the inclusion of a new double patenting rejection in a second or subsequent Office action will not preclude the Office action from being made final. The Office is also revising second action final practice as it pertains to second or subsequent Office actions that include a new ground of rejection necessitated by a showing that a claim element that does not use the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for'' is nevertheless a means- (or step-) plus-function claim element under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6. The Office revised the examination guidelines for means- (or step-) plus-function claim elements under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, in June of 2000. See Supplemental Examination Guidelines for Determining the Applicability of 35 U.S.C. 112, 6, 65 FR 38510 (June 21, 2000), 1236 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 98 (July 25, 2000) (2000 Examination Guidelines); see also Interim Supplemental Examination Guidelines for Determining the Applicability of 35 U.S.C. 112, 6, 64 FR 41392 (July 30, 1999). The 2000 Examination Guidelines for means- (or step-) plus-function claim elements under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, have been incorporated into the MPEP. See MPEP sections 2181-2184 (8th ed. 2001) (Rev. 5, August 2006). The 2000 Examination [[Page 46723]] Guidelines set forth a three-prong procedure for determining whether a claim element is a means- (or step-) plus-function claim element under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6. See Supplemental Examination Guidelines for Determining the Applicability of 35 U.S.C. 112, 6, 65 FR at 38514, 1236 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 101. The 2000 Examination Guidelines provide that if a claim element does not include the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for'' as provided in the first prong of the three-prong procedure and the applicant wishes to have the claim element treated under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, in a proceeding before the Office, the applicant has two options: (1) Amend the claim to include the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for''; or (2) show that even though the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for'' is not used, the claim element is written as a function to be performed and does not recite sufficient structure, material, or acts which would preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6. See Supplemental Examination Guidelines for Determining the Applicability of 35 U.S.C. 112, 6, 65 FR at 38514, 1236 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 101. To avoid any unnecessary delay in the prosecution of the application, an applicant who wishes to have a claim element treated under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, should either use the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for'' in the claim element or provide the necessary showing before the examination of the application begins so that the examiner can properly interpret the claims in the application and make a patentability determination. Furthermore, because submitting a showing is tantamount to an amendment of the claim to include the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for,'' a showing will be treated as an amendment of the claim for second action final purposes. Thus, the inclusion of a new rejection in a second or subsequent Office action necessitated by a showing submitted by applicant will not preclude the Office from making the second or subsequent Office action final. This final rule requires applicant to identify any claims in a continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior- filed application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(3) and the discussion of Sec. 1.78(d)(3). Any claim in the continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is not identified as being disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application will be treated as entitled only to the actual filing date of the continuation- in-part application, and will be subject to prior art based on the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application. To avoid any unnecessary delay in the prosecution of the application, applicant should provide the identification before the examiner begins to conduct a prior art search. If the failure to identify the claims for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application causes the examiner to include a new prior art rejection in a second or subsequent Office action, the inclusion of the new prior art rejection will not preclude the Office action from being made final. Therefore, the Office is revising second action final practice to provide that a second or any subsequent Office action on the merits may be made final, except when the Office action contains a new ground of rejection that is not: (1) Necessitated by applicant's amendment of the claims, including amendment of a claim to eliminate unpatentable alternatives; (2) necessitated by applicant's providing a showing that a claim element that does not use the phrase ``means for'' or ``step for'' is written as a function to be performed and does not otherwise preclude application of 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6; (3) based on information submitted in an information disclosure statement filed during the period set forth in 37 CFR 1.97(c) with the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(p); (4) based upon double patenting (statutory or obviousness-type double patenting); or (5) necessitated by applicant's identification of the claim or claims in a continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application. The provision in MPEP Sec. 904.02 that a search should cover the claimed subject matter and should also cover the disclosed features which might reasonably be expected to be claimed does not preclude an examiner from making the second or any subsequent Office action on the merits final if the Office action contains a new ground of rejection that was necessitated solely by applicant's amendment of the claims to eliminate an unpatentable alternative. An examiner cannot be expected to foresee whether or how an applicant will amend a claim to overcome a rejection except in very limited circumstances (e.g., where the examiner suggests how applicant can overcome a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 2). II. Discussion of Specific Rules Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 1, is amended as follows: Section 1.17 (patent application and reexamination processing fees): Section 1.17(f) is amended to include a reference to: (1) Petitions under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) for a continuing application not provided for in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(v); and (2) petitions under Sec. 1.114(g) for a request for continued examination not provided for in Sec. 1.114(f). See discussion of Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114. Section 1.26 (refunds): Section 1.26(a) is amended to add the phrase ``[e]xcept as provided in Sec. 1.117 or Sec. 1.138(d)'' to the sentence ``[a] change of purpose after the payment of a fee, such as when a party desires to withdraw a patent filing for which the fee was paid, including an application, an appeal, or a request for an oral hearing, will not entitle a party to a refund of such fee.'' The ``change of purpose'' provision of Sec. 1.26(a) is directed to the provision in 35 U.S.C. 42(d) authorizing a refund of ``any fee paid by mistake or any amount paid in excess of that required.'' 35 U.S.C. 42(d). Sections 1.117 and 1.138(d), however, are directed to the provisions in 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(2) and (d)(1)(D) as amended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 (Consolidated Appropriations Act) that permit the Office to develop procedures to refund search fees or excess claims fees under certain limited conditions. See Public Law 108-447, 118 Stat. 2809 (2004). Section 1.26(b) is amended to change ``except as otherwise provided in this paragraph or in Sec. 1.28(a)'' to ``except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, or in Sec. 1.28(a), Sec. 1.117(b), or Sec. 1.138(d)''. This change is for consistency with Sec. 1.117(b) and Sec. 1.138(d), which also specify time periods within which certain refunds must be requested. Section 1.52 (language, paper, writing, margins, compact disc specifications): Section 1.52(d)(2) is amended to refer to Sec. 1.78(b) concerning the requirements for claiming the benefit of a provisional application in a nonprovisional application. Section 1.52(d)(2) is also amended to provide that if a provisional application is filed in a language other than English and the benefit of such provisional application is claimed in a nonprovisional application, an English language translation of the non-English language provisional application will be required in the provisional application. This change conforms Sec. 1.52(d)(2) to the September 2005 revision to the provisions in Sec. 1.78 for claiming the benefit of a provisional application. See Provisions for Claiming the Benefit of a Provisional Application With a Non-English Specification and Other Miscellaneous Matters, 70 FR 56119, [[Page 46724]] 56121, 56128 (Sept. 26, 2005), 1299 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 142, 143-44, 150 (Oct. 25, 2005) (final rule). With respect to claiming the benefit of a provisional application that was filed in a language other than English, Sec. 1.78(b)(5) now provides that: (1) If the prior-filed provisional application was filed in a language other than English and both an English-language translation of the prior-filed provisional application and a statement that the translation is accurate were not previously filed in the prior-filed provisional application, applicant will be notified and given a period of time within which to file the translation and the statement in the prior-filed provisional application; (2) if the notice is mailed in a pending nonprovisional application, a timely reply to such a notice must include the filing in the nonprovisional application of either a confirmation that the translation and statement were filed in the provisional application, or an amendment or supplemental application data sheet withdrawing the benefit claim, or the nonprovisional application will be abandoned; and (3) the translation and statement may be filed in the provisional application, even if the provisional application has become abandoned. Section 1.53 (application number, filing date, and completion of application): Section 1.53(b) and (c)(4) are amended to refer to Sec. 1.78, rather than specific paragraphs of Sec. 1.78. Section 1.53(b)(1) is also amended to provide that continuation or divisional applications naming an inventor not named in the prior application must be filed under Sec. 1.53(b) (this provision was formerly in Sec. 1.53(b)(2)), and to reference Sec. 1.78(a)(2) for the definition of a divisional application and Sec. 1.78(a)(3) for the definition of a continuation application. Section 1.53(b)(2) is amended to reference Sec. 1.78(a)(4) for the definition of a continuation-in-part application. Section 1.75 (claims): Section 1.75(b) is amended to provide for the revised practice for the examination of claims in an application. Section 1.75(b) (introductory text) provides for the requirements of a dependent claim. Section 1.75(b)(1) provides for the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold for invoking the examination support document requirement. Section 1.75(b)(2) provides for claims in dependent form that are effectively independent claims. Section 1.75(b)(3) provides for situations in which an examination support document has not been provided in an application that exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. Section 1.75(b)(4) provides that the total number of claims present in all of the copending commonly owned applications that contain patentably indistinct claims may not exceed the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. Section 1.75(b)(5) provides that claims withdrawn from consideration will not, unless they are reinstated or rejoined, be taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. Section 1.75(c) is amended to provide that multiple dependent claims and claims depending from a multiple dependent claim will be considered to be that number of claims to which direct reference is made in the multiple dependent claim for claims counting purposes. Section 1.75(b) (introductory text) is amended to set forth the existing provisions concerning dependent claims in Sec. 1.75(c), namely, that ``[o]ne or more claims may be presented in dependent form, referring back to and further limiting another claim or claims in the same application.'' Section 1.75(b) (introductory text) is also amended to clarify that a dependent claim is required to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the previous claim to which it refers and to specify a further limitation of the subject matter of the previous claim. See Pfizer Inc. v. Ranbaxy Labs. Ltd., 437 F.3d 1284, 1292, 79 U.S.P.Q.2d 1583, 1589-90 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (a dependent claim is required to include all the limitations of the claim from which it depends and the failure to incorporate by reference all the limitations is a violation of 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 4, and renders the dependent claim invalid). Section 1.75(b)(1) provides that an applicant must file an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 that covers each claim (whether in independent or dependent form) before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of the application if the application contains or is amended to contain more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims. Section 1.75(b)(1) also provides that the application may not contain or be amended to contain more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims if an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 has not been filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application. The examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 is required to be filed before the issuance of the first Office action on the merits of the application because the information provided by the applicant in the examination support document will assist the examiner in understanding the invention of the application, determining the effective filing date of each claim, interpreting the claims before a prior art search, understanding the state of the art and the most closely related prior art cited by the applicant, and determining the patentability of the claims. Applicant is permitted to present more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in a continuing application, if the applicant files an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 before the first Office action on the merits of the continuing application, regardless of whether an examination support document has been filed in the prior-filed application. Claims withdrawn from consideration under Sec. Sec. 1.141 through 1.146 or Sec. 1.499 as drawn to a non-elected invention or inventions are not taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds this five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. See Sec. 1.75(b)(5) and discussion of Sec. 1.75(b)(5). Section 1.75(b)(2) concerns claims in dependent form that are effectively independent claims. Section 1.75(b)(2) provides that a claim that refers to another claim but does not incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which such claim refers will be treated as an independent claim for fee calculation purposes under Sec. 1.16 (or Sec. 1.492) and for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b). The Office must treat such claims as independent claims because 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 4, provides (inter alia) that a dependent claim ``shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.'' See 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 4. For examples of such claims, see: In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 696, 227 U.S.P.Q. 964, 965 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (``product by process'' claim 44); In re Kuehl, 475 F.2d 658, 659, 177 U.S.P.Q. 250, 251 (C.C.P.A. 1973) (claim 6); and Ex parte Rao, 1995 WL 1747720, *1 (BPAI 1998) (claim 8). Section 1.75(b)(2) also provides that a claim that refers to a claim of a different statutory class of invention will be treated as an independent claim for fee calculation purposes under Sec. 1.16 (or Sec. 1.492) and for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b). For examples of such claims, see: Thorpe, 777 F.2d at 696, 227 U.S.P.Q. at 965 (``product by process'' claim 44); Ex parte Porter, 25 U.S.P.Q.2d 1144, 1145 (BPAI 1992) (claim 6); and Ex parte Blattner, 2 [[Page 46725]] U.S.P.Q.2d 2047, 2047-48 (BPAI 1987) (claim 14). Section 1.75(b)(3) provides that the applicant will be notified if the application contains or is amended to contain more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims but the applicant has not complied with the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.75(b)(1) or 1.75(b)(4) (e.g., an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 has been omitted). Section 1.75(b)(3) also provides that if the non-compliance appears to have been inadvertent, the notice will set a two-month time period that is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) within which, to avoid abandonment of the application, the applicant must comply with the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.75(b). Again, claims withdrawn from consideration under Sec. Sec. 1.141 through 1.146 or Sec. 1.499 as drawn to a non-elected invention or inventions are not taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds this five independent claim and twenty- five total claim threshold. See Sec. 1.75(b)(5) and discussion of Sec. 1.75(b)(5). If a notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3) is mailed before the first Office action on the merits of an application and it appears that the omission of an examination support document was inadvertent, the notice will set a two-month time period within which the applicant must: (1) File an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 that covers each claim (whether in independent or dependent form); or (2) amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. Section 1.75(b)(3) provides that this two-month time period is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) and that the failure to reply to such a notice will result in abandonment of the application. Due to the increase in patent pendency that would result from the routine granting of extensions in the situation in which an application contains or is amended to contain more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims but the applicant has not complied with the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.75(b)(1) or 1.75(b)(4) (e.g., an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 has been omitted), the Office is limiting extensions of this two-month time period in Sec. 1.75(b)(3) to those for which there is sufficient cause (Sec. 1.136(b)). Once the Office issues a notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3), the applicant may not simply submit a suggested alternative requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c), but instead must: (1) File an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 that covers each claim (whether in independent or dependent form); or (2) amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. If an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 as required under Sec. 1.75(b) was not filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application, an amendment that results in the application containing more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims will be treated as non- responsive. Specifically, if the non-compliance with Sec. 1.75(b) appears to have been inadvertent, the Office would give the applicant a two-month time period that is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) within which to provide an amendment that does not result in the application containing more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims. See Sec. 1.135(c) (``[w]hen reply by the applicant is a bona fide attempt to advance the application to final action, and is substantially a complete reply to the non-final Office action, but consideration of some matter or compliance with some requirement has been inadvertently omitted, applicant may be given a new time period for reply under Sec. 1.134 to supply the omission.''). Section 1.75(b)(4) provides for the situation in which: (1) A nonprovisional application contains at least one claim that is patentably indistinct from at least one claim in one or more other pending nonprovisional applications; and (2) the nonprovisional application and the one or more other pending nonprovisional applications either are owned by the same person or are subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person. In this situation, Sec. 1.75(b)(4) provides that the Office will treat the claims in the first nonprovisional application and in each of such other pending nonprovisional applications as being present in each of the pending nonprovisional applications for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b). That is, if the conditions specified in Sec. 1.75(b)(4) are present, the Office will treat each such nonprovisional application as having the total number of claims present in all of such applications (and not just the claim that is patentably indistinct) for purposes of determining whether an examination support document is required by Sec. 1.75(b). For example: If application ``A'' contains only one claim that is patentably indistinct from the claims in application ``B'', application ``A'' and application ``B'' are owned by the same company, and each application contains three independent claims and twenty total claims, the Office will treat each application as having six independent claims and forty total claims in determining whether each application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold set forth in Sec. 1.75(b). In this example, an examination support document would be required in each application before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of the application. To avoid the provisions of Sec. 1.75(b)(4), applicant may present all of the patentably indistinct claims in application ``B'' by canceling the patentably indistinct claim from application ``A''. As discussed previously, Sec. 1.75(b)(4) is to preclude an applicant from submitting multiple applications to the same subject matter (with claims that are patentably indistinct), each with five or fewer independent claims or twenty-five or fewer total claims, for the purpose of avoiding the requirement to submit an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265. Under Sec. 1.75(b)(4), the Office will count the claims in the copending nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims (including applications having a continuity relationship) but not in issued patents containing patentably indistinct claims, in determining whether each such application exceeds the five independent claim or twenty-five total claim threshold for invoking the examination support document requirement. An applicant may present up to five independent claims and twenty-five total claims in an initial application and each continuing application, provided that continuing applications that contain patentably indistinct claims are not prosecuted in parallel with the initial application or each other. Thus, an applicant may present up to fifteen independent claims and seventy-five total claims to a single invention via an initial application and two continuing applications that are filed and prosecuted serially without providing either an examination support document or a justification. In addition, an applicant may prosecute a divisional application (an application containing claims that are patentably distinct from the claims to the invention prosecuted in the initial application) in parallel with the initial application or its continuation or continuation-in-part applications without the claims in the divisional application being taken into account in determining whether the initial application or its continuation or continuation-in- part applications [[Page 46726]] exceed the five independent claim or twenty-five total claim threshold for invoking the examination support document requirement. Section 1.75(b)(4) also provides that the total number of claims present in all of such copending nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims may not exceed five independent claims or twenty-five total claims unless an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 is filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of the application containing patentably indistinct claims. The provisions of Sec. 1.75(b)(4) do not depend upon the relative filing dates of the nonprovisional application and the one or more other nonprovisional applications. The provisions of Sec. 1.75(b)(4) apply regardless of whether the filing dates of the applications are the same, are within two months of each other (cf. Sec. 1.78(f)(1) and (f)(2)), or are not within two months of each other. In other words, the provision of Sec. 1.75(b)(4) does not depend on the filing dates of the respective applications. In addition, the provisions of Sec. 1.75(b)(4) are applicable regardless of any continuity relationship between the applications (e.g., the provision applies if a parent application is still pending at the time the child application is under examination). For applications having a continuity relationship, the prior application must be pending at the time the continuing application is filed. See 35 U.S.C. 120 (requires that a continuing application be filed before the patenting or abandonment of or termination of proceedings on the prior application). The Office, however, will treat the application as no longer pending for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b)(4) if: (1) A notice of allowance is issued, unless the application is withdrawn from issue (Sec. 1.313); (2) the Office recognizes the application is abandoned; (3) a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit under 35 U.S.C. 141 is filed, unless the appeal is terminated; or (4) a civil action under 35 U.S.C. 145 or 146 is commenced, unless the civil action is terminated. Section 1.75(b)(4) as adopted in this final rule differs from proposed Sec. 1.75(b)(4) in that it does not provide that the Office may require elimination of the patentably indistinct claims from all but one of the applications. Such a provision would be a substantial duplicate of Sec. 1.78(f)(3) as adopted in this final rule, which provides that if the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.75(b)(4) exist, the Office may require elimination of the patentably indistinct claims from all but one of the applications in the absence of good and sufficient reason for there being two or more such nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims. Section 1.75(b)(5) provides that claims withdrawn from consideration under Sec. Sec. 1.141 through 1.146 or Sec. 1.499 as drawn to a non-elected invention or inventions will not, unless they are reinstated or rejoined, be taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty- five total claim threshold set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(1), (b)(3), and (b)(4). Thus, claims withdrawn from consideration as the result of an Office-initiated requirement under Sec. 1.142, 1.146, or 1.499 (regardless of whether the election is with or without traverse), or as the result of the acceptance of a suggested restriction requirement under Sec. 1.142(c), are not taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. In addition, claims withdrawn from consideration in an application (e.g., the initial application) as the result of either an Office-initiated requirement under Sec. 1.142, 1.146, or 1.499, or the acceptance of a suggested restriction requirement under Sec. 1.142(c), are not taken into account in determining whether a copending application (e.g., a continuation application of the initial application) contains a claim that is patentably indistinct from a claim in such application for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b)(4). Section 1.142(c) as adopted in this final rule provides that the applicant may submit a suggested requirement for restriction if two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in the application. Section 1.142(c) further provides that any suggested requirement for restriction must be filed before the earlier of the first Office action on the merits or any Office action that contains a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction (including an election of species) under 35 U.S.C. 121 in the application. Section 1.142(c) provides that any suggested requirement for restriction must also be accompanied by an election without traverse of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty- five total claims, and identify the claims to the elected invention. If the applicant submits a suggested restriction requirement, the suggested restriction requirement is accepted, and there are five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims to the elected invention (as required by Sec. 1.142(c)), the Office will simply treat the non-elected claims as withdrawn from consideration and proceed to act on the application (assuming the application is otherwise in condition for action). The Office action will set out the requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.141(a), e.g., in the manner that an Office action on the merits would contain a written record of a requirement for restriction previously made by telephone. See MPEP section 810. Applicants are reminded, however, that the Office may refund excess claims fees only for claims that are canceled prior to the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of the application. See 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(2) (``[t]he Director may, by regulation, provide for a refund of any part of the fee specified in [35 U.S.C. 41(a)(2)] for any claim that is canceled before an examination on the merits, as prescribed by the Director, has been made of the application under [35 U.S.C.] 131''). If the applicant files a suggested requirement for restriction in an application containing more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims, the applicant will also be notified if the suggested restriction requirement is not accepted. The refusal to accept a suggested requirement for restriction may result in the examiner making a different restriction requirement or making no restriction requirement. If the examiner makes a restriction requirement (which includes an election of species requirement) different from the suggested restriction requirement, the applicant will be notified of the restriction requirement. The applicant will be given a two-month time period that is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) within which the applicant must make an election consistent with the Office-issued restriction requirement in order to avoid abandonment of the application. Once the Office issues a requirement for restriction, the applicant may not simply submit a suggested alternative requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c). Instead, the applicant must make an election (with or without traverse) responsive to the Office-issued requirement for restriction. If an application subject to an Office- issued requirement for restriction contains more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims, the reply must also either: (1) Amend the application to contain no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims to the elected invention and/or species; or (2) include an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 that covers [[Page 46727]] each claim (whether in independent or dependent form) pending in the application. If the examiner does not make a restriction requirement, the applicant will simply be given a notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3). That notice will set a two-month time period that is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) within which, to avoid abandonment of the application, the applicant must: (1) Amend the application to contain no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims; or (2) file an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 that covers each claim (whether in independent or dependent form) pending in the application. See Sec. 1.75(b)(3). Section 1.75(b)(5) also provides that claims reinstated (e.g., as a result of a request for reconsideration of the requirement) or rejoined (e.g., upon allowance of a generic claim) in the application are taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. As discussed previously, unless an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 was filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application, the application must remain at or under the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold. Therefore, if an examination support document was not filed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of the application, and the reinstatement or rejoinder of non-elected claims results in the application containing more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims, the Office will give the applicant a two- month time period within which to amend the application to contain five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims. See Sec. 1.75(b)(3). This two-month time period is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a). The failure to file such an amendment will result in abandonment of the application. Since claims reinstated or rejoined in the application are taken into account in determining whether an application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold, applicants cannot rely upon a requirement for restriction to avoid submitting an examination support document before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits of an application. This is especially true where: (1) The applicant traverses the requirement for restriction; (2) the requirement for restriction may be conditional, such as a requirement for election of species in an application that contains a claim that is generic to all of the claimed species (hereafter ``generic claim'') (see MPEP section 809), or a requirement for restriction in an application that contains a linking claim (e.g., a subcombination claim linking plural combinations); or (3) the applicant plans to request rejoinder of the claims to the non-elected invention (see MPEP Sec. 821.04 et seq.). Thus, applicants are advised to file an examination support document in the application before the first Office action on the merits if they anticipate the occurrence of any of the aforementioned three situations. Furthermore, applicants cannot rely upon the requirement for restriction to file a divisional application because the Office will withdraw the requirement for restriction, including an election of species, if the non-elected claims are reinstated or rejoined. Applicant is not permitted to file a divisional application of a prior-filed application that is no longer subject to a restriction requirement. Under Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii), the prior-filed application to which a divisional application claims the benefit must be subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Sections 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii) also require a divisional application to contain only claims directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined. For an application that contains a generic claim in which a requirement for an election of species has been made, applicants should conclude prosecution (in the initial application and its continuation or continuation-in-part applications), including exhaustion of any available appeals, as to the generic claim before ever filing a divisional application to a non-elected species. If applicant no longer wants to pursue the generic claim, applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected species. If an applicant files a divisional application directed to a non-elected species, applicant should: (1) Cancel the claims to the non-elected species and the generic claim in the prior-filed application before rejoinder or reinstatement occurs; (2) not present the non-elected claims and the generic claim in any continuation or continuation-in-part application of the initial application; and (3) not present the generic claim in the divisional application or any other continuation application of the divisional application (because the generic claim has been examined in the initial application and it is patentably indistinct from the claims of the non-elected species). When an application contains a generic claim and the examiner makes a provisional restriction requirement, requiring an election of species for initial search and examination purposes, the applicant must elect a single species. (The requirement is provisional because the restriction will be withdrawn upon allowance of the generic claim.) The examiner will determine the patentability of the elected species and generic claim. Upon the allowance of the generic claim, the provisional restriction requirement will be withdrawn, as explained above. The claims of the non-elected species then will be rejoined. The Office will count the rejoined claims together with the other pending claims to determine whether the application exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold set forth Sec. 1.75(b)(1). See Sec. 1.75(b)(5). If the application contains more than five independent claims and twenty-five total claims (counting the rejoined claims) and the applicant did not file an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits in the application, then the applicant must amend the application to contain no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. See Sec. 1.75(b)(1). Therefore, applicants cannot rely upon a provisional requirement for restriction to avoid submitting an examination support document before the issuance of the first Office action on the merits in the application. Furthermore, upon the allowance of a claim that is generic to all of the claimed species (either in the initial application or any continuing application), the application is no longer subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. In such a situation, if applicant had filed a ``divisional'' application to the non-elected species following the provisional restriction in the prior-filed application, that ``divisional'' application would no longer be proper under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii). This is because the ``divisional'' application would not meet the conditions set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii). If applicant wishes to maintain the application, then applicant must delete or correct the benefit claim to indicate that the application is a continuation application, provided the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) can be [[Page 46728]] satisfied. In such case, the Office will treat the application as one of the two continuation applications of the prior-filed application permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i). But, if the prior-filed application already has its benefit claimed in two other nonprovisional applications, applicant must delete the benefit claim in the application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i). Therefore, applicant is cautioned not file a divisional application drawn to a non-elected species if a generic claim is pending in the initial application or any continuing application of the initial application and could be found allowable. When an application subject to an election of species is allowed with no claim that is generic to all of the claimed species being found to have been allowable, the applicant will be notified that the Office considers the requirement that the application be restricted to a single species to be final. At that point, the applicant may cancel the claims to the non-elected species and the generic claim in the prior- filed application and file a divisional application in accordance with Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) to the non-elected species. However, if the applicant later files a continuing application of the initial application or the divisional application presenting one or more generic claims in such later application, the Office will consider the requirement that the initial application be restricted to a single species to no longer be final. Should that occur, the ``divisional'' application directed to the non-elected species would not be proper under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii) for the reasons explained above. Thus, applicants should conclude prosecution, including exhaustion of any available appeals, as to the generic claim before ever filing a divisional application to a non-elected species. In other words, applicants cannot rely upon a requirement that an application containing a generic claim will be restricted to a single species to permit filing one or more divisional applications until the applicant has concluded prosecution with respect to any generic claims. Under the Office's rejoinder practice, an applicant may request rejoinder of claims to a non-elected invention that depend from or otherwise require all the limitations of an allowable claim. See MPEP Sec. 821.04 et seq. This ``rejoinder'' practice was developed in light of the Federal Circuit's decisions in In re Ochiai, 71 F.3d 1565, 37 U.S.P.Q.2d 1127 (Fed. Cir. 1995), and In re Brouwer, 77 F.3d 422, 37 U.S.P.Q.2d 1663 (Fed. Cir. 1996), and the enactment of 35 U.S.C. 103(b) in The Biotechnology Process Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-41, 109 Stat. 351 (1995)). See Guidance on Treatment of Product and Process Claims in light of In re Ochiai, In re Brouwer, and 35 U.S.C. 103(b), 1184 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 86 (Mar. 26, 1996). Applicants may retain claims to a non-elected invention in an application for possible rejoinder in the event of the allowance of a claim to the elected invention. However, as discussed previously, the Office will count rejoined claims towards the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold in Sec. 1.75(b)(1). See Sec. 1.75(b)(5). If applicant cancels all of the claims directed to a non-elected invention before rejoinder occurs and files a divisional application, the restriction requirement will not be withdrawn and the non-elected process claims that are now canceled will not be rejoined. This will preserve applicant's rights under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii). See MPEP Sec. 821.04(b). Section 1.75(c) is amended to provide for multiple dependent claims only. Dependent claims are now provided for in Sec. 1.75(b). Section 1.75(c) further provides that multiple dependent claims and claims that depend from a multiple dependent claim will be considered to be that number of claims to which direct reference is made in the multiple dependent claim for purposes of Sec. 1.75(b) (as well as Sec. 1.16 or 1.492). The changes to Sec. 1.75 are applicable to any application (including any reissue application) filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) on or after November 1, 2007, and to any nonprovisional application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after November 1, 2007, as well as to any application (including any reissue application) in which a first Office action on the merits (Sec. 1.104) was not mailed before November 1, 2007. The Office will provide an applicant who filed a nonprovisional application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) before November 1, 2007, or a nonprovisional application that entered the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 before November 1, 2007, and who would be affected by the changes in the final rule, with an opportunity to submit: (1) An examination support document under Sec. 1.265; (2) a new set of claims such that the application contains five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims; or (3) a suggested restriction requirement under Sec. 1.142(c). Specifically, the Office will issue a notice setting a two- month time period that is extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) or (b) within which the applicant must exercise one of these options in order to avoid abandonment of the application. The Office, however, may combine such a notice with a requirement for restriction, in which case the applicant must make an election responsive to the restriction requirement and, if there are more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims drawn to the elected invention, the applicant must also: (1) File an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265; or (2) amend the application such that it contains five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims drawn to the elected invention. Thus, if such a notice is combined with a requirement for restriction, the applicant does not have the option of replying to such notice with a suggested restriction requirement under Sec. 1.142(c). With respect to the application of the changes to Sec. 1.75 in this final rule to a reissue application, an examination support document under Sec. 1.265 will not be required pursuant to Sec. 1.75(b) in a reissue application if the reissue application does not seek to change the claims in the patent being reissued. A change in the claims in the patent being reissued is sought either by an amendment to or addition of a claim or claims, or by an amendment to the specification which changes a claim or claims. Section 1.76 (application data sheet): Section 1.76(b)(5) is amended to refer to Sec. Sec. 1.78(b)(3) and (d)(3) for consistency with the changes to Sec. 1.78. Section 1.76(b)(5) is also amended to clarify that the relationship of the applications is not required for a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) and to delete ``the status (including patent number if available)''. Such information is not necessary for claiming the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e), 120, 121, or 365(c). Section 1.78 (claiming benefit of earlier filing date and cross- references to other applications): Section 1.78 is reorganized as follows: (1) Sec. 1.78(a) defines ``continuing application'', ``continuation application'', ``divisional application'', and ``continuation-in-part application''; (2) Sec. 1.78(b) contains provisions relating to claims under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) for the benefit of a prior-filed provisional application; (3) Sec. 1.78(c) contains provisions relating to delayed claims under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) for the benefit of a prior-filed provisional application; (4) Sec. 1.78(d) contains provisions relating to claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) for the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional or international application; (5) Sec. 1.78(e) contains provisions relating to delayed claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) for [[Page 46729]] the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional or international application; (6) Sec. 1.78(f) contains provisions relating to applications naming at least one inventor in common and containing patentably indistinct claims; (7) Sec. 1.78(g) contains provisions relating to applications or patents under reexamination naming different inventors and containing patentably indistinct claims; (8) Sec. 1.78(h) contains provisions pertaining to the treatment of parties to a joint research agreement under the CREATE Act; and Sec. 1.78(i) provides that the time periods set forth in Sec. 1.78 are not extendable. Section 1.78(a)(1) defines a ``continuing application'' as a nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America. Section 1.78(a)(1) provides that an application that does not claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of a prior-filed application, is not a continuing application even if the application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of a provisional application, claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) or 365(b) to a foreign application, or claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 365(a) or (b) to an international application designating at least one country other than the United States of America. A continuing application must be a continuation application, a divisional application, or a continuation- in-part application. See MPEP Sec. 201.11 (``To specify the relationship between the applications, applicant must specify whether the application is a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part of the prior application. Note that the terms are exclusive. An application cannot be, for example, both a continuation and a divisional or a continuation and a continuation-in-part of the same application.''). Section 1.78(a)(2) defines a ``divisional application'' as a continuing application that discloses and claims only an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in a prior-filed application, but were subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121 in the prior-filed application, and were not elected for examination and were not examined in any prior- filed application. This definition is more precise than the definition of ``divisional application'' currently found in MPEP Sec. 201.06. MPEP Sec. 201.06 defines a divisional application as an application for an independent and distinct invention, which discloses and claims only subject matter that was disclosed in the prior-filed nonprovisional application. Section 1.78(a)(2), however, limits the definition of ``divisional application'' to an application that claims only an invention or inventions that were subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121 in the prior-filed application and not elected for examination and not examined in any prior-filed application. See 35 U.S.C. 121 (``[i]f two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one application, the Director may require the application to be restricted to one of the inventions [and i]f the other invention is made the subject of a divisional application which complies with the requirements of [35 U.S.C.] 120 * * *.''). The Office will revise the definition of divisional application in MPEP Sec. 201.06 in the next revision of the MPEP. An application that claims the benefit of a prior-filed divisional application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(2), and claims the same patentable invention as the prior-filed divisional application, would not be a divisional application as defined by Sec. 1.78(a)(2). Instead, such an application would be a continuation application. Section 1.78(a)(3) defines a ``continuation application'' as a continuing application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(1) that discloses and claims only an invention or inventions that were disclosed in the prior-filed application. See MPEP Sec. 201.07 (defines a continuation application as an application that discloses (or discloses and claims) only subject matter that was disclosed in the prior-filed nonprovisional application). Section 1.78(a)(4) defines a ``continuation-in-part application'' as a continuing application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(1) that discloses subject matter that was not disclosed in the prior-filed application. See MPEP Sec. 201.08 (a continuation-in-part repeats some substantial portion or all of the earlier nonprovisional application and adds matter not disclosed in the prior-filed nonprovisional application). Section 1.78(b) addresses claims under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) for the benefit of a prior-filed provisional application. Under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)(1), a provisional application must disclose the invention claimed in at least one claim of the later-filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for the later-filed application to receive the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application. See New Railhead Mfg., L.L.C. v. Vermeer Mfg. Co., 298 F.3d 1290, 1294, 63 U.S.P.Q.2d 1843, 1846 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (for a nonprovisional application to actually receive the benefit of the filing date of the provisional application, ``the specification of the provisional [application] must `contain a written description of the invention and the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms,' 35 U.S.C. 112 ] 1, to enable an ordinarily skilled artisan to practice the invention claimed in the nonprovisional application''). Section 1.78(b), however, does not also state (as did former Sec. 1.78(a)(4)) that the provisional application must disclose the invention claimed in at least one claim of the later- filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, because it is not necessary for the rules of practice to restate provisions of a statute. Section 1.78(b)(1) provides that the nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America must be filed not later than twelve months after the date on which the provisional application was filed, and that this twelve-month period is subject to 35 U.S.C. 21(b) and Sec. 1.7(a). 35 U.S.C. 21(b) and Sec. 1.7(a) provide that when the day, or the last day, for taking any action (e.g., filing a nonprovisional application within twelve months of the date on which the provisional application was filed) or paying any fee in the Office falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a Federal holiday within the District of Columbia, the action may be taken, or fee paid, on the next succeeding secular or business day. Section 1.78(b) otherwise contains the provisions of former Sec. 1.78(a)(4) and (a)(5). Sections 1.78(b)(2) through (b)(5) contain the provisions of former 1.78(a)(4) and (a)(5). Section 1.78(c) contains provisions relating to delayed claims under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) for benefit of prior-filed provisional applications. Section 1.78(c) contains the provisions of former Sec. 1.78(a)(6). Section 1.78(d) contains provisions relating to claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) for the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional or international application. Section 1.78(d)(1) provides conditions under which an application may claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) and Sec. 1.78 of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America. Section 1.78(d)(1) also provides that the Office [[Page 46730]] will refuse to enter, or will delete if present, any specific reference to a prior-filed application that is not permitted by Sec. 1.78(d)(1). If the claim for the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America is not permitted by Sec. 1.78(d)(1), the Office will refuse benefit. Section 1.78(d) also provides that the entry of or failure to delete a specific reference to a prior-filed application that is not permitted by Sec. 1.78(d)(1) does not constitute a waiver of the provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1). The grant of a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or waiver of a requirement of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) would be only by an explicit decision by an official who has been delegated the authority to decide such a petition or waiver. It would not occur by implication due to the entry of or failure to delete a specific reference to a prior-filed application that is not permitted by Sec. 1.78(d)(1). These provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) were included in the proposed changes to Sec. 1.78(d)(3). See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR at 54, 60, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1323, 1328. Section 1.78(d)(1)(i) provides for continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications that do not claim the benefit of a divisional application (either directly or indirectly). Section 1.78(d)(1)(i) permits such a continuation application or continuation- in-part application of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America if: (1) The application is a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in-part application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of no more than two prior-filed applications; and (2) any application whose benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in such nonprovisional application has its benefit claimed in no more than one other nonprovisional application. This does not include any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), (d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.78(d)(1)(i) permits an applicant to continue prosecution of an application via two continuation applications (in parallel or serially), a continuation application and a continuation-in-part application (in parallel or serially), or two continuation-in-part applications (in parallel or serially). Applicants choosing to file applications (whether continuing or non-continuing) in parallel are reminded that Sec. 1.75(b)(4) provides that, if certain conditions are met, the Office will treat each such application as having the total number of claims present in all of such applications for purposes of determining whether an examination support document is required by Sec. 1.75(b). See also Sec. 1.78(f) concerning additional provisions that are applicable if there are multiple applications that have the same claimed filing or priority date, substantial overlapping disclosure, a common inventor, and common assignee. If an application is identified as a continuation-in-part application, however, Sec. 1.78(d)(3) provides that the applicant must identify the claim or claims in the continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application. See discussion of Sec. 1.78(d)(3). Any claims in the continuation-in-part application that are not identified under Sec. 1.78(d)(3) as supported by the prior-filed application will be subject to prior art based on the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application. For a continuation-in-part application that contains one or more claims for which the subject matter is not disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) will permit an applicant to continue prosecution of the claims that are directed solely to subject matter added in such continuation-in-part application via two continuation applications (or a continuation application and a continuation-in-part application, or two continuation-in-part applications). However, the ``additional'' continuation or continuation-in-part applications cannot claim the benefit of the prior-filed application relative to the first continuation-in-part application. The subject matter of at least one claim of a later-filed application must be disclosed in the prior-filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for the later-filed application to actually receive the benefit of the filing date of the prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 120. See Studiengesellschaft Kohle m.b.H. v. Shell Oil Co., 112 F.3d 1561, 1564- 65, 42 U.S.P.Q.2d 1674, 1677-78 (Fed. Cir. 1997). In addition, the term of any resulting patent will be measured under 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2) from the filing date of the prior-filed application, even if the later-filed application never receives any benefit from the prior-filed application. See Abbott Labs. v. Novopharm Ltd., 104 F.3d 1305, 1309, 41 U.S.P.Q.2d 1535, 1537 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (rejecting patentee's argument that it should not be bound by the filing date of the prior- filed application because the later-filed application never received any actual benefit from the prior-filed application). Thus, the Office will not require that such ``additional'' continuation or continuation- in-part applications contain a showing that all of the claims are directed solely to subject matter added in the first continuation-in- part application. Rather, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) permits the ``additional'' continuation or continuation-in-part application to claim the benefit of the first continuation-in-part application, but does not permit the ``additional'' continuation or continuation-in-part application to also claim the benefit of the prior-filed initial application (the prior-filed application relative to the first continuation-in-part application). For example, consider an applicant who files: (1) An initial application ``A''; (2) a first continuation- in-part application ``B'' that claims the benefit of application ``A''; (3) a second continuation (or continuation-in-part) application ``C'' that claims the benefit of applications ``B'' and ``A''; and (4) an additional continuation (or continuation-in-part) application ``D'' that claims the benefit of applications ``C'' and ``B''. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i), application ``D'' may claim the benefit of application ``C'' and continuation-in-part application ``B'', but may not claim any benefit of application ``A'' (except as permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi)). Applicants are permitted to file two continuation or continuation- in-part applications (Sec. 1.78(d)(1)) and one request for continued examination (Sec. 1.114) without any justification. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. Therefore, the filing of a request for continued examination does not preclude an applicant from filing two continuation or continuation-in- part applications. In addition, an applicant may not agree to forgo a continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) to obtain a second or third request for continued examination, nor can an applicant agree to forgo a request for continued examination in exchange for a third continuation or continuation-in-part application. For example, an applicant cannot file a second request for continued examination without any justification instead of filing one of the two permitted continuation applications; and an applicant cannot file three continuation applications [[Page 46731]] instead of filing a request for continued examination. Of course, applicant may seek by petition a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination. The Office, however, is implementing an optional streamlined continuation application procedure under which an applicant may request to have a continuation application filed on or after November 1, 2007, placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket. The examiner will normally pick up for action a continuation application that has been placed on the examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket faster (e.g., within a few months from the date the application is docketed) than an application placed on the examiner's new continuing application (New Special) docket. The following conditions must be met for the continuation application to be placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket rather than on the new continuing application (New Special) docket: (1) The application must disclose and claim only an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in the prior- filed application; (2) the applicant must agree that any election in response to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121, including an election of species requirement, in the prior- filed application carries over to the continuation application; (3) the prior-filed application must be under a final Office action (Sec. 1.113) or under appeal at the time of filing the continuation application; (4) the prior-filed application must be expressly abandoned upon filing of the continuation application, with a letter of express abandonment under Sec. 1.138 being concurrently filed in the prior-filed application; and (5) applicant must request that the continuation application be placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket. This procedure is not applicable to design applications because the continued prosecution application procedures of Sec. 1.53(d) currently provide design applicants with an optional streamlined continuation application procedure. The optional streamlined continuation application procedure, however, does require that the applicant provide a continuation application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) and Sec. 1.53(b) (and not a request for continued examination under 35 U.S.C. 132(b) and Sec. 1.114 or a continued prosecution application under Sec. 1.53(d)). Thus, the applicant must file a continuation application that meets the conditions set forth in 35 U.S.C. 111(a) and Sec. 1.53(b) to be accorded a filing date. The continuation application must also be complete under Sec. 1.51(b) or completed under Sec. 1.53(f). The Office will not docket an application for examination until the application is complete (Sec. Sec. 1.51(b) and 1.53(f)) and in condition for publication (Sec. 1.211). See Sec. 1.53(h). Thus, any delay in submitting the filing fee and oath or declaration (or copy of the oath or declaration from the prior-filed application under Sec. 1.63(d)) will delay the docketing of a continuation application even if the applicant has requested that the continuation application be given streamlined docketing. This optional streamlined continuation application procedure concerns only the placement of the continuation application on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket. The continuation application is otherwise treated as a new application for patent. For example, (1) the application filing fees including the basic filing fee, search and examination fees, and any required excess claims fees (and not the request for continued examination fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(e)) are required; (2) the continuation application will be assigned a new application number; and (3) the continuation application is subject to the patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. 154(b) and Sec. 1.702 et seq. as a new continuation application (and not a request for continued examination in the prior-filed application). Section 1.78(d)(1)(ii) provides for divisional applications of an application for the claims to a non-elected invention that has not been examined if the application was subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. See Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii) and 1.114(f). Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) permits a divisional application of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America under the following conditions. First, the divisional application must be a divisional application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(2) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of a prior-filed application that was subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Second, the divisional application must contain only claims directed to an invention or inventions that were identified in the requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention or requirement for restriction but were not elected for examination and were not examined in the prior-filed application or in any other nonprovisional application. The ``not elected for examination and were not examined in any other nonprovisional application'' requirement does not apply to any continuation application that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of the divisional application and satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.78(d)(1)(ii)(A) permits an applicant to obtain examination of claims that were withdrawn from consideration in the prior-filed application due to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Thus, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii)(A) permits a divisional application filed as a result of a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121 in the prior-filed application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(ii)(A), however, does not permit a divisional application not filed as a result of such a requirement in the prior-filed application. Thus, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii)(A) permits so- called ``involuntary'' divisional applications but does not permit so- called ``voluntary'' divisional applications. Section 1.78(d)(1)(ii)(B) does not permit the filing of a set of parallel divisional applications containing claims to the same invention. Applicant, however, may serially prosecute up to two continuation applications that contain claims to the same invention as is claimed in a prior-filed divisional application if the continuation application satisfies the conditions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii). As discussed previously, applicants cannot rely upon a requirement for restriction including an election of species to file a divisional application in situations where: (1) The applicant traverses the requirement for restriction; [[Page 46732]] (2) the requirement for restriction may be conditional, such as a requirement for election of species in an application that contains a claim that is generic to all of the claimed species (see MPEP section 809); and (3) the claims to the non-elected invention may be rejoined at the request of the applicant (see MPEP Sec. 821.04 et seq.). See the discussion of Sec. 1.75(b)(5). This is because when the requirement for restriction is withdrawn in the prior-filed application, any divisional application that has been filed as the result of the restriction requirement of the prior-filed application will not be proper under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii). Applicant is not permitted to file a divisional application of a prior- filed application that is no longer subject to a restriction requirement. Under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii), the prior- filed application to which a divisional application claims the benefit must be subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Sections 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii) also require a divisional application to contain only claims directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined. For an application that contains a generic claim in which a requirement for an election of species has been made, applicants should conclude prosecution of the generic claim in the initial application and its continuation or continuation-in-part applications, including exhaustion of any available appeals, before even filing a divisional application to a non-elected species. If applicant no longer wants to pursue the generic claim, applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected species. If applicant files a divisional application directed to a non-elected species, applicant must: (1) Cancel the claims to the non-elected species and the generic claim in the prior-filed application before a rejoinder or reinstatement occurs; (2) not present the non-elected claims and the generic claim in any continuation or continuation-in-part application of the initial application; and (3) not present the generic claim in the divisional application or any continuation application of the divisional application. Under the Office's rejoinder practice, an applicant may request rejoinder of claims to a non-elected invention that depend from or otherwise require all the limitations of an allowable claim. See MPEP Sec. 821.04 et seq. Applicants may retain claims to a non-elected invention in an application for possible rejoinder in the event of the allowance of a claim to the elected invention. If applicant cancels all of the claims directed to a non-elected invention before rejoinder occurs and files a divisional application, the restriction requirement will not be withdrawn and the non-elected claims that are now canceled will not be rejoined. This will preserve applicant's rights under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii). See MPEP Sec. 821.04(b). Section 1.78(d)(1)(iii) provides for continuation applications that claim the benefit of a divisional application (either directly or indirectly). Section 1.78(d)(1)(iii) permits such a continuation application of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America if: (1) The application is a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of a divisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii); (2) the application discloses and claims only an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in the divisional application; (3) the application claims the benefit of only the divisional application, any application to which such divisional application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in compliance with the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), and no more than one intervening prior-filed nonprovisional application (i.e., only one continuation application of the divisional application filed between the divisional application and the second continuation application of the divisional application); and (4) no more than one other nonprovisional application claims the benefit of the divisional application. This does not include any other divisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) or any nonprovisional application that claims the benefit of such divisional application and satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.78(d)(1)(iii) permits an applicant to continue prosecution of a divisional application via two continuation applications (in parallel or serially). The Office, however, will treat each application prosecuted in parallel as having the total number of claims present in all of such applications for purposes of determining whether an examination support document is required by Sec. 1.75(b) provided that the continuation application contains at least one claim that is patentably indistinct from at least one claim in the divisional application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(iii) does not permit a continuation-in-part of a divisional application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(iii) is designed to permit an applicant to complete prosecution with respect to an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in a divisional application, and not to permit an applicant to seek patent protection for a new invention that merely bears some relationship to an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in a divisional application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(i) provides a mechanism for applicants to seek patent protection for a new invention that is an improvement of an invention or inventions that were disclosed and claimed in an initial or continuing (including a divisional) application. The provisions of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(iii) are illustrated with the following example: (1) There is an initial application ``A'' that is subject to a restriction requirement under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.141 et seq.; (2) a continuation application ``B'' of application ``A''; (3) a further continuation application ``C'' which claims the benefit of continuation application ``B'' and initial application ``A''; (4) a divisional application ``D'' (based upon the restriction requirement under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.141 et seq. in application ``A''), which claims the benefit of continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''; (5) a continuation application ``E'' of divisional application ``D'', which claims the benefit of divisional application ``D'', continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''; and (6) a further continuation application ``F'' of continuation application ``E'', which claims the benefit of continuation application ``E'', divisional application ``D'', continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i), application ``C'' is either a continuation application under Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in- part application under Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit of no more than two prior-filed applications ``B'' and ``A''. In addition, applications ``B'' and ``A'' whose benefit is claimed in application ``C'' have their benefit claimed in no more than one other application (not including divisional application ``D'' or continuation applications ``E'' and ``F'' of the divisional application ``D''). That is, the benefit of application ``A'' is claimed in only one other application ``B'' (not including divisional application ``D'' or continuation [[Page 46733]] applications ``E'' and ``F'' of the divisional application ``D''), and the benefit of application ``B'' is claimed in only one other application ``C'' (not including divisional application ``D'' or continuation applications ``E'' and ``F'' of the divisional application ``D''). Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), nonprovisional application ``D'' is a divisional application under Sec. 1.78(a)(2) since it claims the benefit of prior-filed application ``A'' that was subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Divisional application ``D'' may contain only claims directed to an invention identified in the requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention or requirement for restriction but were not elected for examination in prior-filed application ``A'' or in any other nonprovisional application (applications ``B and ``C''), except for a nonprovisional application (applications ``E'' and ``F'') that claims the benefit of divisional application ``D'' and satisfies the conditions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii). That is, divisional application ``D'' may contain only claims directed to an invention or inventions that were identified in such requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention or requirement for restriction but were not elected for examination in any other application except for its continuation applications ``E'' and ``F''. Finally, the divisional application ``D'' claims the benefit of the prior-filed applications (applications ``A'', ``B'', and ``C''). Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii), nonprovisional application ``F'' is a continuation application under Sec. 1.78(a)(3) that claims the benefit of divisional application ``D''. Application ``D'' is a divisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii). The nonprovisional application ``F'' may disclose and claim only an invention that was disclosed and claimed in divisional application ``D''. The nonprovisional application ``F'' claims the benefit of only divisional application ``D'', the applications to which divisional application ``D'' claims benefit in compliance with the conditions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) (applications ``A'', ``B'', and ``C''), and no more than one intervening prior-filed nonprovisional application (application ``E''). Divisional application ``D'' whose benefit is claimed in nonprovisional application ``E'' and in nonprovisional application ``F'' has its benefit claimed in no more than one other nonprovisional application. That is, with respect to application ``F'', divisional application ``D'' has its benefit claimed in no more than one other nonprovisional application (application ``E''), and with respect to application ``E'', divisional application ``D'' has its benefit claimed in no more than one other nonprovisional application (application ``F''). Section 1.78(d)(1)(iv) pertains to the situation in which an applicant files a bypass continuation (or continuation-in-part) application rather than paying the basic national fee (entering the national stage) in an international application in which a Demand for international preliminary examination (PCT Article 31) has not been filed, and the international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America. Section 1.78(d)(1)(iv) provides that in this situation the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) without there being a requirement for a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). A ``bypass'' continuation (or continuation-in-part) application is an application for patent filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) that claims the benefit of the filing date of an earlier international application designating the United States of America that did not enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371. See H.R. Rep. No. 107-685, at 222 (2002). Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv) provides that a continuation application or continuation-in-part application is permitted if the following conditions are met: (1) The application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of a prior-filed international application designating the United States of America, and a Demand has not been filed and the basic national fee (Sec. 1.492(a)) has not been paid in the prior-filed international application and the prior-filed international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America; (2) the application is a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in-part application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of no more than three prior-filed applications; and (3) any application whose benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in such nonprovisional application has its benefit claimed in no more than two other nonprovisional applications. This does not include any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), (d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.78(d)(1)(v) pertains to the situation in which an applicant files a continuation (or continuation-in-part) application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53 (i.e., the prior-filed application became abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to an Office notice issued under Sec. 1.53(f)). The prior-filed nonprovisional application, however, must be entitled to a filing date and have paid therein the basic filing fee within the pendency of the application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(2). Section 1.78(d)(1)(v) provides that in this situation the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) without there being a requirement for a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v) provides that a continuation application or continuation- in-part application is permitted if the following conditions are met: (1) The application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of a prior-filed nonprovisional application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a), and the prior-filed nonprovisional application became abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to an Office notice issued under Sec. 1.53(f) and does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America; (2) the application is a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in-part application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of no more than three prior-filed applications; and (3) any application whose benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in such nonprovisional application has its benefit claimed in no more than two other nonprovisional applications. This does not include any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), (d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.78(d)(1)(vi) provides that a continuing nonprovisional application that is filed to obtain consideration of an amendment, argument, or evidence that could not have been submitted during the prosecution of the prior-filed application, and does not satisfy the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or (v), may claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of such prior-filed application. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi), a petition must be filed in such nonprovisional application that is accompanied by the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f) and a showing [[Page 46734]] that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted during the prosecution of the prior-filed application. This will permit an applicant to continue prosecution of an application via a continuing application to obtain consideration of an amendment, argument, or evidence that could not have been submitted during the prosecution of the prior-filed application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(vi) sets forth the time period within which such a petition must be provided: (1) If the later-filed continuing application is an application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a), within four months from the actual filing date of the later-filed application; and (2) if the continuing application is a nonprovisional application which entered the national stage from an international application after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371, within four months from the date on which the national stage commenced under 35 U.S.C. 371(b) or (f) in the international application. With respect to the application of the changes to Sec. 1.78 in this final rule to a reissue application, benefit claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in the application for patent that is being reissued will not be taken into account in determining whether a continuing reissue application claiming the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of the reissue application satisfies one or more of the conditions set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through 1.78(d)(1)(vi). However, an applicant may not use the reissue process to add to the original patent benefit claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) that do not satisfy one or more of the conditions set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through 1.78(d)(1)(vi), if the application for the original patent was filed on or after November 1, 2007. Section 1.78(d)(2) provides that each prior-filed application must name as an inventor at least one inventor named in the later-filed application. In addition, each prior-filed application must either be: (1) An international application entitled to a filing date in accordance with PCT Article 11 and designating the United States of America; or (2) a nonprovisional application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) that is entitled to a filing date as set forth in Sec. 1.53(b) or Sec. 1.53(d) for which the basic filing fee set forth in Sec. 1.16 has been paid within the pendency of the application (provisions from former Sec. 1.78(a)(1)). Section 1.78(d)(3) is amended to include the parenthetical ``(i.e., whether the later-filed application is a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part of the prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application)'' to clarify in the rules of practice what is meant by the requirement that an applicant identify the relationship of the applications. See MPEP Sec. 201.11. Section 1.78(d)(3) also provides that if an application is identified as a continuation-in-part application, the applicant must identify the claim or claims in the continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application. Any claim in the continuation-in-part application for which the subject matter is not identified as being disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application will be treated as entitled only to the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application, and will be subject to prior art based on the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application. As discussed previously, to avoid any unnecessary delay in the prosecution of the application, applicant should provide the identification before the examiner begins to conduct a prior art search. If the failure to identify the claims for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application causes the examiner to include a new prior art rejection in a second or subsequent Office action, the inclusion of the new prior art rejection will not preclude the Office action from being made final. This final rule eliminates from Sec. 1.78(d) the provision that the prior-filed application disclose the invention claimed in at least one claim of the later-filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1. For a later-filed application to receive the benefit of the filing date of a prior-filed application, 35 U.S.C. 120 requires that the prior-filed application must disclose the invention claimed in at least one claim of the later-filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1. The Office, however, does not make a determination as to whether a prior-filed application discloses the invention claimed in a claim of the later-filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, unless that determination is necessary to determine the patentability of such claim. See MPEP Sec. 201.08 (``Unless the filing date of the earlier nonprovisional application is actually needed * * *, there is no need for the Office to make a determination as to whether the requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120, that the earlier nonprovisional application discloses the invention of the second application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, is met and whether a substantial portion of all of the earlier nonprovisional application is repeated in the second application in a continuation-in-part situation. Accordingly, an alleged continuation- in-part application should be permitted to claim the benefit of the filing date of an earlier nonprovisional application if the alleged continuation-in-part application complies with the * * * formal requirements of 35 U.S.C. 120.''). Section 1.78(d)(4) and (d)(5) contain the provisions of former Sec. 1.78(a)(2). Section 1.78(d)(6) provides that cross-references to applications for which a benefit is not claimed must be located in a paragraph separate from the paragraph containing the references to applications for which a benefit is claimed. Including cross-references to applications for which a benefit is not claimed in the same paragraph as the paragraph containing the references to applications for which a benefit is claimed may lead to the Office inadvertently scheduling the application for publication under 35 U.S.C. 122(b) and Sec. 1.211 et seq. on the basis of the cross-referenced applications having the earliest filing date. Section 1.78(e) contains provisions relating to delayed claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) for benefit of prior-filed nonprovisional or international applications. Section 1.78(e) contains the provisions of former Sec. 1.78(a)(3). Section 1.78(f) contains provisions relating to applications and patents naming at least one inventor in common. Section 1.78(f)(1)(i) provides that the applicant in a nonprovisional application that has not been allowed (Sec. 1.311) must identify by application number (i.e., series code and serial number) and patent number (if applicable) each other pending or patented nonprovisional application, in a separate paper, for which the following conditions are met: (1) The application has a filing date that is the same as or within two months of the filing date of the other pending or patented application, taking into account any filing date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code; (2) the application names at least one inventor in common with the other pending or patented application; and (3) the application is owned by the same person, or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person, as the other pending or patented application. This identification requirement would also apply to each identified application because the identifying application has [[Page 46735]] a filing date that is the same as or within two months of the filing date of the identified application and vice versa. The phrase ``taking into account any filing date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code'' in Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i)(A) means any filing date for which a benefit (or priority) is sought or claimed under 35 U.S.C. 111, 119, 120, 121, 363, or 365. Cf. 35 U.S.C. 122(b)(1)(A) (requires publication of patent applications ``promptly after the expiration of a period of 18 months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit is sought under this title'' (emphasis added), meaning eighteen months from the earliest filing date for which a benefit or priority is sought or claimed under 35 U.S.C. 111, 119, 120, 121, 363, or 365). Thus, if an application claims the benefit of or priority to other applications, ``the filing date of [the application], taking into account any filing date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code,'' is the actual filing date of the application as well as the filing date of each application to which the application claims a benefit or priority. For example, if an application has a filing date of December 1, 2006, and claims the benefit of a nonprovisional application that was filed on June 1, 2004, and claims the priority of a foreign application that was filed on June 1, 2003, for purposes of Sec. Sec. 1.78(f)(1) and (f)(2) the filing date of the application ``taking into account any filing date for which a benefit is sought under title 35, United States Code,'' is December 1, 2006, June 1, 2004, and June 1, 2003. The phrase ``owned by the same person, or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person'' in Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i)(C) (and in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(i)(C) and 1.78(f)(3)) has the same meaning as it does in 35 U.S.C. 103(c). See MPEP Sec. 706.02(l)(2) for a discussion of the definition of this phrase as it is used in 35 U.S.C. 103(c). The phrase ``has not been allowed'' in Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i) (and in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii) and (iii)) means a notice of allowance under Sec. 1.311 has not been mailed in the application, or a notice of allowance under Sec. 1.311 has been mailed in the application but the application has been withdrawn from issue. Thus, the identification of such one or more other pending or patented nonprovisional applications under Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i) is not required in an application in which a notice of allowance has been mailed, unless the application is withdrawn from issue. Section 1.78(f)(1)(ii) also provides that one or more other nonprovisional applications under Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i) must be identified within the later of: (1) Four months from the actual filing date of a nonprovisional application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a); (2) four months from the date on which the national stage commenced under 35 U.S.C. 371(b) or (f) in a nonprovisional application entering the national stage from an international application under 35 U.S.C. 371; or (3) two months from the mailing date of the initial filing receipt in the other nonprovisional application that is required to be identified under Sec. 1.78(f)(1)(i). Section 1.78(f)(2)(i) provides that a rebuttable presumption shall exist that a nonprovisional application contains at least one claim that is not patentably distinct from at least one of the claims in the one or more other pending or patented nonprovisional applications if: (1) The application has a filing date that is the same as the filing date of another pending application or patent, taking into account any filing date for which a benefit is sought; (2) the application names at least one inventor in common with the other pending application or patent; (3) the application is owned by the same person, or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person, as the other pending application or patent; and (4) the application contains substantially overlapping disclosure as the other pending application or patent. Section 1.78(f)(2)(i) further provides that substantial overlapping disclosure exists if the other pending or patented nonprovisional application has written description support under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for at least one claim in the nonprovisional application. If these conditions exist, the applicant must under Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii) in the nonprovisional application, unless the nonprovisional application has been allowed (Sec. 1.311), within the time period specified in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(iii) either: (1) Rebut this presumption by explaining how the application contains only claims that are patentably distinct from the claims in each of such other pending applications or patents; or (2) submit a terminal disclaimer in accordance with Sec. 1.321(c). In addition, Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii)(B) provides that where one or more other pending nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims have been identified, the applicant must explain why there are two or more pending nonprovisional applications naming at least one inventor in common and owned by the same person, or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person, which contain patentably indistinct claims. Unless applicant presents good and sufficient reasons for such multiple applications, the Office may require elimination of the patentably indistinct claims from all but one of the applications. See Sec. 1.78(f)(3). As discussed previously, for applications having a continuity relationship, the prior application must be pending at the time the continuing application is filed. See 35 U.S.C. 120 (requires that a continuing application be filed before the patenting or abandonment of or termination of proceedings on the prior application). An applicant is not required to provide an explanation under Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii)(B) for a continuation application or continuation-in-part application of a prior-filed application that has been allowed, provided that the prior- filed application is not withdrawn from issue. Furthermore, where the other nonprovisional application containing patentably indistinct claims is allowed, the Office will not count the claims of the allowed application in determining whether the total number of claims present in all of the copending nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims exceeds the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold under Sec. 1.75(b)(4). See the discussion of Sec. 1.75(b)(4). A terminal disclaimer in accordance with Sec. 1.321(c) will, however, be required in each nonprovisional application containing patentably indistinct claims to overcome any obviousness-type double patenting rejection. Under Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(iii), the actions specified in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii) (if required) must be taken within the later of: (1) Four months from the actual filing date of a nonprovisional application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a); (2) four months from the date on which the national stage commenced under 35 U.S.C. 371(b) or (f) in a nonprovisional application entering the national stage from an international application under 35 U.S.C. 371; (3) the date on which a claim that is not patentably distinct from a claim in one or more other pending or patented applications is presented; or (4) two months from the mailing date of the initial filing receipt in the one or more other pending or patented applications. The requirement under Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii) for taking one of the actions specified in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii) does not apply to the applicant in the application in which a notice of allowance has been mailed, unless the application is withdrawn from issue (Sec. 1.313). For example, if an applicant filed a continuation application after a notice of allowance has been mailed in the prior-filed application, the applicant must either rebut the presumption under [[Page 46736]] Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(i) or submit a terminal disclaimer in accordance with Sec. 1.321(c) within the time period set forth in Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(iii) in the continuation application. Under Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii), the applicant, however, is not required to rebut the presumption or submit a terminal disclaimer in the allowed prior-filed application. Nevertheless, a terminal disclaimer in accordance with Sec. 1.321(c) will be required in each nonprovisional application containing patentably indistinct claims to overcome any obviousness- type double patenting rejection. As discussed previously, when an applicant files multiple applications that are substantially the same, the applicant is responsible for assisting the Office in resolving potential double patenting situations, rather than taking no action until faced with a double patenting rejection. Thus, if an Office action must include a double patenting rejection (either statutory or obviousness-type double patenting), it is because the applicant has not met his or her responsibility to resolve the double patenting situation. Therefore, the inclusion of a new double patenting rejection in a second or subsequent Office action will not preclude the Office action from being made final. Section 1.78(f)(3) applies when there are two or more commonly owned (owned by the same person, or are subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person) nonprovisional applications containing patentably indistinct claims. Under Sec. 1.78(f)(3), unless applicant presents good and sufficient reasons for such multiple applications, the Office may require elimination of the patentably indistinct claims from all but one of the applications. Section 1.78(f)(3) contains provisions similar to former Sec. 1.78(b). The Office expects to apply this provision primarily in situations covered by Sec. 1.78(f)(2)(ii), under which applicants must explain why it is necessary that there are two or more pending nonprovisional applications naming at least one inventor in common and owned by the same person, or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person, which contain patentably indistinct claims. The Office, however, may require that an applicant provide good and sufficient reason whenever there are two or more pending nonprovisional applications with such common ownership or assignment obligation and patentably indistinct claims, regardless of the relative filing dates of the applications. Section 1.78(f)(3) does not apply to the claims in a patent. The following are two examples where an applicant may have a good and sufficient reason under Sec. 1.78(f)(3) for there being two or more pending nonprovisional applications that contain patentably indistinct claims: (1) An applicant filed a continuation application after the mailing of a notice of allowance in the prior-filed application, but the allowance of the prior-filed application was subsequently withdrawn by the Office; or (2) an interference was declared in an application that contains both claims corresponding to the count and claims not corresponding to the count, the BPAI suggests that the claims not corresponding to the count be canceled from the application in interference and pursued in a separate application, and the applicant filed a continuation application to present the claims not corresponding to the count. These examples are merely illustrative and not exhaustive. Section 1.78(g) addresses applications or patents under reexamination that name different inventors and contain patentably indistinct claims. Section 1.78(g) contains the provisions of former Sec. 1.78(c), except that ``conflicting claims'' is changed to ``patentably indistinct claims'' for clarity and for consistency with the language of Sec. 1.78(f). Section 1.78(h) covers the situation in which parties to a joint research agreement are treated (in essence) as a common owner for purposes of 35 U.S.C. 103 by virtue of the CREATE Act. Section 1.78(h) provides that if an application discloses or is amended to disclose the names of parties to a joint research agreement under 35 U.S.C. 103(c)(2)(C), the parties to the joint research agreement are considered to be the same person for purposes of Sec. 1.78. The CREATE Act amended 35 U.S.C. 103(c) to provide that subject matter developed under a joint research agreement shall be treated as owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person for purposes of determining obviousness if three conditions are met: (1) The claimed invention was made by or on behalf of parties to a joint research agreement that was in effect on or before the date the claimed invention was made; (2) the claimed invention was made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of the joint research agreement; and (3) the application for patent for the claimed invention discloses or is amended to disclose the names of the parties to the joint research agreement. See Changes to Implement the Cooperative Research and Technology Enhancement Act of 2004, 70 FR 1818, 1818 (Jan. 11, 2005), 1291 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 58, 58-59 (Feb. 8, 2005) (final rule). Section 1.78(h) also provides that if the application is amended to disclose the names of parties to a joint research agreement, the applicant must identify the one or more other nonprovisional applications as required by Sec. 1.78(f)(1) with the amendment unless the applications have been identified within the four-month period specified in Sec. 1.78(f)(1). Section 1.78(i) provides that the time periods set forth in Sec. 1.78 are not extendable. The changes to Sec. 1.78 (except Sec. Sec. 1.78(a) and 1.78(d)(1)) are applicable to any nonprovisional application pending on or after November 1, 2007. The changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(a) and 1.78(d)(1) are applicable to any application filed on or after November 1, 2007, or any application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after November 1, 2007. Except as otherwise indicated in this final rule, any application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) on or after November 1, 2007, or any application entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after November 1, 2007, seeking to claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) and Sec. 1.78 of a prior-filed nonprovisional application or international application must either: (1) Meet the requirements specified in one of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(v); or (2) include a grantable petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). With respect to applications that claim the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) only of nonprovisional applications or international applications filed before August 21, 2007: An application is not required to meet the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1) if: (1) The application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) only of prior-filed nonprovisional applications filed before August 21, 2007 or prior-filed applications entering the national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371 before August 21, 2007; and (2) there is no other application filed on or after the publication date of this final rule in the Federal Register that also claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of such prior-filed nonprovisional applications or international applications. This provision will provide applicants with ``one more'' continuation application or continuation- in-part application of a second or subsequent continuing application (continuation application or continuation-in-part application) that was filed prior to the publication date of this final rule in the Federal Register [[Page 46737]] without a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Thus, an applicant may file a single continuation application or continuation-in-part application on or after November 1, 2007, without meeting the requirements specified in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(v), or including a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi), even if the prior- filed application was a second or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application. It should be noted that the purpose of this provision is to ensure that an applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application or continuation-in-part application of an application that was filed prior to the publication date of this final rule in the Federal Register without a petition and showing, and not to provide an ``extra'' continuation application or continuation-in-part application for applications filed prior to the publication date of this final rule in the Federal Register. If an application filed before the publication date of this final rule in the Federal Register is not a continuing application or is only the first continuing application, this provision will not entitle an applicant to file a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application without a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted during the prosecution of the prior-filed application. Section 1.104 (nature of examination): The Office proposed a number of changes to Sec. 1.104 to implement the ``representative claims'' examination approach. See Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR at 64, 68, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1131, 1332. The Office is not proceeding with the changes to Sec. 1.104 to implement the ``representative claims'' examination approach, but is revising Sec. 1.104 for consistency with current examination practices. Section 1.104(a)(1) is amended to add the phrase ``and other requirements'' to the phrase ``the examination shall be complete with respect both to compliance of the application or patent under reexamination with the applicable statutes and rules'' to address situations in which the requirement is based upon Office practice as set forth in the MPEP or in the case law. For example, the phrase ``other requirements'' would address the situation in which a claim did not comply with the requirement in MPEP Sec. 608.01(m) that each claim be the object of a single sentence starting with ``I (or we) claim,'' ``The invention claimed is,'' or the equivalent. See Fressola v. Manbeck, 36 U.S.P.Q.2d 1211, 1212 (D.D.C. 1995). In addition, in the event that there is a requirement for restriction including election of species, or both, the provision in Sec. 1.104(a)(1) for a ``thorough study [and] investigation of the available prior art relating to the subject matter of the claimed invention'' will continue to apply only with respect to the invention and species elected for examination on the merits. This provision of Sec. 1.104 does not apply with respect to an invention or species that has been withdrawn from consideration as a result of a requirement for restriction, including an election of species. Section 1.104(b) is also amended to delete the sentence ``[h]owever, matters of form need not be raised by the examiner until a claim is found allowable.'' The Office would prefer that all matters of form be resolved at the earliest time during the patent examination process. Nevertheless, an Office action would not be considered improper simply because the Office action did not raise every applicable issue of form present in the application. Section 1.105 (requirements for information): Section 1.105(a)(1) is amended to provide that an applicant may be required to set forth where (by page and line or paragraph number) in the specification of the application, or any application the benefit of whose filing date is sought under title 35, United States Code, there is written description support for the invention as defined in the claims (whether in independent or dependent form), and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the invention, under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1. Therefore, in situations in which it is not readily apparent where the specification of the application, or an application for which a benefit is claimed, provides written description support and enablement under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for a claim or a limitation of a claim, the examiner may require the applicant to provide such information. The Office considers this authority to be inherent under the patent statute and existing rules (including Sec. 1.105), but is revising Sec. 1.105 to make the authority explicit. Section 1.110 (inventorship and date of invention of the subject matter of individual claims): Section 1.110 is amended to refer to Sec. 1.78, rather than a specific paragraph (paragraph (c)) of Sec. 1.78. The first sentence of Sec. 1.110 is also amended to relocate the phrase ``when necessary for purposes of an Office proceeding'' to the end of the sentence for clarity. Section 1.114 (request for continued examination): Under Sec. 1.114, an applicant is permitted to file a single request for continued examination without a petition and showing in a single application family. See Sec. 1.114(f)(1). An application family includes the initial application and its continuation or continuation-in-part applications. An applicant is also permitted to file a single request for continued examination without a petition and showing in a divisional application family. See Sec. Sec. 1.114(f)(2) and (f)(3). A divisional application family includes the divisional application and its continuation applications. An applicant may file a second or subsequent request for continued examination if the applicant files a petition and a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier. See Sec. 1.114(g). Section 1.114(a) is amended to make clear that an applicant may not file an unrestricted number of requests for continued examination, that a request for continued examination must include a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) unless the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.114(f)(1), (f)(2), or (f)(3) are satisfied, and that a request for continued examination must be identified as a request for continued examination. Section 1.114(a) otherwise contains the provisions of former Sec. 1.114(a). Section 1.114(d) is revised to eliminate the sentence ``[i]f an applicant timely files a submission and fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(e), the Office will withdraw the finality of any Office action and the submission will be entered and considered.'' This change is to avoid misleading applicants into believing that the Office will pro forma withdraw the finality of any Office action and the submission will be pro forma entered and considered upon timely filing of a submission and fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(e). Under revised Sec. 1.114, a second or subsequent request for continued examination must also include a petition accompanied by the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f) except under the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.114(f). Section 1.114(f) provides the conditions under which an applicant may file a request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g). Section 1.114(f)(1) permits an applicant to file a single request for continued examination in any one (but only one) of an initial application or its continuation applications or [[Page 46738]] continuation-in-part applications. Section 1.114(f)(1) provides that an applicant may file a request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) if a request for continued examination has not been previously been filed in any of: (1) The application; (2) any application whose benefit is claimed in the application under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c); and (3) any application that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of the application, not including any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), 1.78(d)(1)(iii) or 1.78(d)(1)(vi). For example, if applicant filed one request for continued examination in an initial application, applicant is precluded from filing a second request for continued examination in the initial application and in any continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications that claim the benefit of the initial application (not including any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), 1.78(d)(1)(iii) or 1.78(d)(1)(vi)), without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g). Section 1.114(f)(2) permits an applicant to file a single request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 in a divisional application meeting the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) provided that no request for continued examination has been filed in any continuation application of the divisional application. Section 1.114(f)(2) provides that an applicant may file a request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 in a divisional application without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) The divisional application; and (2) any application that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of that divisional application, not including any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), (d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). Section 1.114(f)(3) permits an applicant to file a single request for continued examination in a continuation application of a divisional application meeting the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) provided that no request for continued examination has been filed in the divisional application or any other continuation application of the divisional application. Section 1.114(f)(3) provides that an applicant may file a request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 in a continuation application of a divisional application without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) The continuation application; (2) the divisional application; and (3) any other application that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of that divisional application, not including any nonprovisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii), (d)(1)(iii) or (d)(1)(vi). The provisions of Sec. 1.114(f) are illustrated with the following example (the example used to illustrate the provisions of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(iii)): (1) There is an initial application ``A'' that is subject to a restriction requirement under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.141 et seq.; (2) a continuation application ``B'' of application ``A''; (3) a further continuation application ``C'' which claims the benefit of continuation application ``B'' and initial application ``A''; (4) a divisional application ``D'' (based upon the restriction requirement under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.141 et seq. in application ``A''), which claims the benefit of continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''; (5) a continuation application ``E'' of divisional application ``D'', which claims the benefit of divisional application ``D'', continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''; and (6) a further continuation application ``F'' of continuation application ``E'', which claims the benefit of continuation application ``E'', divisional application ``D'', continuation application ``C'', continuation application ``B'', and initial application ``A''. Section 1.114(f)(1) permits the filing of a single request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) in any one of applications ``A'', ``B'', or ``C''. Specifically, a request for continued examination may be filed in application ``A'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) application ``A''; (2) any application (none) whose benefit is claimed in application ``A''; and (3) any application (applications ``B'' and ``C'') that claims the benefit of application ``A'', not including divisional application ``D'' and its continuation applications ``E'' and ``F''. In addition, a request for continued examination may be filed in application ``B'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) Application ``B''; (2) any application (application ``A'') whose benefit is claimed in application ``B''; and (3) any application (application ``C'') that claims the benefit of application ``B'', not including divisional application ``D'' and its continuation applications ``E'' and ``F''. Finally, a request for continued examination may be filed in application ``C'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) Application ``C''; (2) any application (applications ``A'' and ``B'') whose benefit is claimed in application ``C''; and (3) any application (none) that claims the benefit of application ``C'', not including divisional application ``D'' and its continuation applications ``E'' and ``F''. Section 1.114(f)(2) permits the filing of a single request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) in application ``D'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in application ``E'' or application ``F''. Specifically, a request for continued examination may be filed in application ``D'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) Divisional application ``D''; and (2) any application (applications ``E'' and ``F'') that claims the benefit of divisional application ``D''. Section 1.114(f)(3) permits the filing of a single request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) in any one of applications ``E'' or ``F'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in application ``D''. Specifically, a request for continued examination may be filed in continuation application ``E'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) Continuation application ``E''; (2) divisional application ``D''; and (3) any other application (application ``F'') that claims the benefit of divisional application ``D''. In addition, a request for continued examination may be filed in continuation application ``F'', if a request for continued examination has not previously been filed in any of: (1) continuation application ``F''; (2) divisional application ``D''; and (3) any other application (application ``E'') that claims the benefit of divisional application ``D''. Section 1.114(g) provides that a request for continued examination must include a petition accompanied by the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f) and a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted before the close of prosecution in the application. A petition under Sec. 1.114(g) and the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f) are not required if the [[Page 46739]] conditions set forth in Sec. 1.114(f) are satisfied. Since a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) requires a showing that there is an amendment, argument, or evidence that could not have been submitted prior to the close of prosecution in the application, a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) for a request for continued examination including only an information disclosure statement as the submission required by Sec. 1.114(c) (i.e., not including an amendment, argument, or evidence) would not be granted. Thus, an applicant may file a single request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) in any one (but only one) of an initial application or its continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications. An applicant may also file a single request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) in any one (but only one) of a divisional application (meeting the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii)) or its continuation applications. Any second or subsequent request for continued examination in an application or application family must include a petition, accompanied by the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f), and a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted prior to the close of prosecution in the application. Section 1.114(h) provides that the filing of an improper request for continued examination, including a request for continued examination with a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) that is not grantable, will not stay any period for reply or other proceedings. This is consistent with the current practice for requests for continued examination. See MPEP Sec. 706.07(h), subsection V (the mere request for continued examination and fee will not operate to toll the running of any time period set in the previous Office action for reply to avoid abandonment of the application). The Office proposed Sec. 1.114(f) to include: ``[a]ny other proffer of a request for continued examination in an application not on appeal will be treated as a submission under Sec. 1.116. Any other proffer of a request for continued examination in an application on appeal will be treated only as a request to withdraw the appeal.'' See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR at 61, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1329. This final rule does not adopt that proposed change because it is unnecessary. Section 1.116 applies only to amendments, affidavits, and other evidence filed after the mailing of a final Office action but prior to an appeal. However, applicants are permitted to file a request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 after the mailing of a notice of allowance or an action that otherwise closes prosecution in the application (e.g., an Office action under Ex parte Quayle, 1935 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 11 (1935)). See Sec. 1.114(b). Furthermore, Sec. 1.114(d) already provides for the situation in which a request for continued examination is filed in an application on appeal. As discussed previously, applicants are permitted to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications and a single request for continued examination without any justification. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. Thus, filing a request for continued examination does not preclude an applicant from filing a first or second continuation application (or continuation-in-part application). In addition, an applicant may not agree to forgo a first or second continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) to obtain a second or third request for continued examination, nor can applicant forgo a request for continued examination to obtain a third continuation or continuation- in-part application. For example, an applicant cannot file two requests for continued examination without a petition and showing in an application instead of filing one of the two permitted continuation applications. The Office is implementing an optional streamlined continuation application procedure under which an applicant may have a continuation application placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket (see discussion of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i)). Thus, an applicant may effectively obtain the docketing benefit (i.e., being placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket) of a second and third request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) by requesting that the two continuation applications permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) be treated under the optional streamlined continuation application procedure. The changes to Sec. 1.114 apply to any application in which a request for continued examination is filed on or after November 1, 2007. Thus, a request for continued examination filed on or after November 1, 2007, in an application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed, in a continuation or continuation-in-part application of an application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed, or in an application whose benefit is claimed in any other nonprovisional application in which a request for continued examination has previously been filed, must include a petition under Sec. 1.114(g). That is, an applicant may file a request for continued examination (and not ``one more'' request for continued examination) on or after November 1, 2007, without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g) only if the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.114(f)(1), (f)(2), or (f)(3) are met. Section 1.117 (refund due to cancellation of claim): The Consolidated Appropriations Act provides that 35 U.S.C. 41(a), (b), and (d) shall be administered in a manner that revises patent application fees (35 U.S.C. 41(a)) and patent maintenance fees (35 U.S.C. 41(b)), and provides for a separate filing fee (35 U.S.C. 41(a)), search fee (35 U.S.C. 41(d)(1)), and examination fee (35 U.S.C. 41(a)(3)) during fiscal years 2005 and 2006. See Public Law 108-447, 118 Stat. 2809 (2004). The Consolidated Appropriations Act also provides that the Office may, by regulation, provide for a refund of any part of the excess claim fee specified in 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(2) for any claim that is canceled before an examination on the merits has been made of the application under 35 U.S.C. 131. See 35 U.S.C. 41(a)(2) (as administered during fiscal years 2005 and 2006 pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act). The Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (Pub. L. 110-5, 121 Stat. 8 (2007)), keeps the patent fee and fee structure provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, in effect during fiscal year 2007 (until September 30, 2007). Section 1.117 is added to implement this provision of the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Section 1.117(a) provides that if an amendment canceling a claim is filed before an examination on the merits has been made of the application, the applicant may request a refund of any fee under Sec. 1.16(h), (i), or (j) or under Sec. 1.492(d), (e), or (f) paid on or after December 8, 2004, for such claim. Thus, if an applicant decides to cancel the claims in excess of five independent claims and in excess of twenty-five total claims rather than provide an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265, the applicant may request a refund of any fee for such claim that is paid on or after December 8, 2004. Section 1.117(a) as adopted, however, does not require that the amendment have been filed in reply to a notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3). Section 1.117(a) requires only that the amendment have been filed before an examination on the [[Page 46740]] merits has been made of the application. The Consolidated Appropriations Act authorizes a refund only for a claim that has been canceled before an examination on the merits has been made of the application under 35 U.S.C. 131. The Office thus lacks authority to grant a refund either on the basis of: (1) The withdrawal from consideration of a claim directed to a non-elected invention or species; or (2) the cancellation of a claim after an examination on the merits has been made of the application under 35 U.S.C. 131. Section 1.117(a) also provides that if an amendment adding one or more claims is also filed before the application has been taken up for examination on the merits, the Office may apply any refund under Sec. 1.117 to any excess claims fees due as a result of such an amendment. The date indicated on any certificate of mailing or transmission under Sec. 1.8 will not be taken into account in determining whether an amendment canceling a claim was filed before an examination on the merits has been made of the application. ``[A]n examination on the merits has been made of the application'' for purposes of Sec. 1.117(a) once a first Office action on the merits, notice of allowability or allowance, or action under Ex parte Quayle is shown in the Patent Application Locating and Monitoring (PALM) system as having been counted. For purposes of Sec. 1.117(a), ``before'' means at least one day before. If an amendment canceling a claim is filed and an Office action is counted on the same day, the amendment canceling a claim was not filed before an examination on the merits has been made of the application. The Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system is a system that provides public access to PALM for patents and applications that have been published. The PAIR system does not provide public access to information concerning applications that are maintained in confidence under 35 U.S.C. 122(a). Applicants, however, may use the private side of PAIR to access confidential information about their pending application. To access the private side of PAIR, a customer number must be associated with the correspondence address for the application, and the user of the system must have a digital certificate. For further information, contact the Customer Support Center of the Electronic Business Center at (571) 272-4100 or toll free at (866) 217-9197. Section 1.117(b) (Sec. 1.117(c) as proposed) provides that if a request for refund under this section is not filed within two months from the date on which the claim was canceled, the Office may retain the excess claims fee paid in the application. This two-month period is not extendable. If an amendment canceling a claim is not filed before an examination on the merits, the Office will not refund any part of the excess claims fee paid in the application except as provided in Sec. 1.26. The provisions of Sec. 1.117(b) as proposed are duplicative of the provisions of Sec. 1.138(d) and have not been adopted as unnecessary. The patent fee provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act expire (in the absence of additional legislation) on September 30, 2007 (at the end of fiscal year 2007). Therefore, in the absence of subsequent legislation, the refund provision in Sec. 1.117 will likewise expire on September 30, 2007 (at the end of fiscal year 2007), regardless of the date on which the excess claims fee was paid. Section 1.136 (extensions of time): Section 1.136(a)(1) is amended to add ``[t]he reply is to a notice requiring compliance with Sec. 1.75(b) or Sec. 1.265'' to the enumerated list of replies to which the extension of time provision of Sec. 1.136(a) is not applicable. A notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3) is a ``notice requiring compliance with Sec. 1.75(b).'' A ``notice requiring compliance with Sec. 1.75(b)'' would include a notice mailed before the issuance of a first Office action on the merits setting a two-month time period within which the applicant must: (1) File an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265; or (2) amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. A ``notice requiring compliance with Sec. 1.75(b)'' would also include a notice issued after a first Office action on the merits in an application in which the applicant is given a time period within which the applicant must amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. For example, if a reply to a non-final Office action on the merits seeks to amend an application such that it contains more than five independent claims and more than twenty-five total claims, the reply would be held non-responsive and (if the non-compliance with Sec. 1.75(b) appears to have been inadvertent) the Office would give the applicant a two-month time period that was not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a) within which to provide an amendment that does not result in the application containing more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims. See Sec. 1.135(c). Section 1.142 (requirement for restriction): Section 1.142(a) is amended to state that an examiner ``may'' (rather than ``will'') require restriction if two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in a single application. The change is for consistency with current Office practice under which a requirement that an application containing claims to two or more independent and distinct inventions be restricted to a single invention is discretionary (see 35 U.S.C. 121 and MPEP Sec. 803.01). An application containing claims to two or more independent and distinct inventions typically is not restricted to a single invention if the search and examination of all of the claims in the application can be made without serious burden (see MPEP section 803). Section 1.142(c) is added to permit applicants to suggest requirements for restriction. Specifically, Sec. 1.142(c) provides that if two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in a single application, the applicant may file a suggested requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c). Any suggested requirement for restriction must be filed before the earlier of the first Office action on the merits or an Office action that contains a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121 in the application. It must also be accompanied by an election without traverse of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims, and must identify the claims to the elected invention. Claims to the non-elected invention, if not canceled, will be withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner. If the examiner accepts the suggested restriction, then the claims to the non-elected invention, if not canceled by the applicant, will be withdrawn from further consideration by the examiner. See the discussion of Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(5) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii). Section 1.75(b)(3)(iii) as proposed would have permitted applicants to reply to a notice from the Office that an application contains more than ten representative claims (under certain conditions) by submitting a suggested requirement for restriction accompanied by an election without traverse of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. See Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR [[Page 46741]] at 64, 67-68, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1331, 1334. However, because the ``representative claims'' examination approach is not adopted in this final rule, this proposed provision of Sec. 1.75(b)(3)(iii) is unnecessary. In this final rule, applicants may file a suggested requirement for restriction accompanied by an election without traverse (Sec. 1.142(c)) of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims without first awaiting a notice from the Office under Sec. 1.75(b)(3). Section 1.142(c) further provides that if the applicant's suggested requirement for restriction is accepted, the restriction requirement will be set forth in a subsequent Office action. Any claim to the non- elected invention or inventions, if not canceled, is by the election withdrawn from further consideration. If the suggested requirement for restriction is refused, the applicant will be notified in an Office action. That Office action may include, a notice under Sec. 1.75(b)(3) requiring applicant to file an examination support document or amend the application to contain no more than five independent claims or no more than twenty-five total claims. If an applicant's suggested restriction requirement is refused, the examiner may make a different restriction requirement or make no restriction requirement. 35 U.S.C. 121 authorizes, but does not compel, the Director to require that an application containing two or more independent and distinct inventions be restricted to one of the inventions. A decision not to restrict an application to a single invention is not an action or requirement within the meaning of Sec. 1.181(a). Thus, any review of an examiner's requirement for restriction that differs from a suggested restriction requirement will only concern the appropriateness of the examiner's restriction requirement and will not address the appropriateness of the applicant's suggested restriction requirement or compare the examiner's restriction requirement and the suggested restriction requirement. Section 1.145 (subsequent presentation of claims for different invention): Section 1.145 is amended to state that an applicant ``may'' (rather than ``will'') be required to restrict the claims to the invention previously claimed if, after an Office action on an application, the applicant presents claims directed to an invention distinct from and independent of the invention previously claimed (see discussion of Sec. 1.142(a)). Section 1.145 is amended to add ``on the merits'' to clarify that Sec. 1.145 applies only after a first Office action on the merits. Section 1.265 (examination support document): Section 1.265 is added to set forth what an ``examination support document'' entails. An examination support document is required under Sec. 1.75(b)(1) when an applicant presents more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in an application. See Sec. 1.75(b)(1) and the discussion of Sec. 1.75(b)(1). Section 1.265(a) sets forth the requirements for an examination support document. Section 1.265(b) provides for the requirements of the preexamination search required under Sec. 1.265(a)(1). Section 1.265(c) provides for the requirements of the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2). Section 1.265(d) provides for certain situations in which a supplemental examination support document is required when applicant files an information disclosure statement citing additional references. Section 1.265(e) provides for situations in which the examination support document is insufficient. Section 1.265(f) provides an exemption to applications filed by a small entity as defined by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). The exemption is for the requirement in Sec. 1.265(a)(3) that an examination support document must include an identification of all of the claim limitations (whether in independent or dependent form) that are disclosed by the cited references. Section 1.265 contains fewer requirements than an accelerated examination support document under the revised procedures for certain petitions to make special (see Changes to Practice for Petitions in Patent Applications To Make Special and for Accelerated Examination, 71 FR 36232 (June 26, 2006), 1308 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 106 (July 18, 2006) (notice)). For example, Sec. 1.265 does not require that the examination support document identify any cited references that may be disqualified as prior art under 35 U.S.C. 103(c) as amended by the Cooperative Research and Technology Act (although applicants are encouraged to identify any cited references that may be so disqualified). Thus, the Office's guidelines concerning the accelerated examination support document may be helpful to applicants who are preparing an examination support document under Sec. 1.265. The guidelines under the revised accelerated examination procedure, search templates, and samples of a preexamination search document and an examination support document can be found on the Office's Internet Web site at http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/accelerated/. The Office will provide similar guidelines for examination support document under Sec. 1.265 and will post such guidelines on the Office's Internet Web site. Section 1.265(a)(1) provides that an examination support document must include a statement that a preexamination search in compliance with Sec. 1.265(b) was conducted. The examination support document must identify (in the manner set forth in MPEP Sec. 719.05) the field of search by class and subclass and the date of the search, where applicable. For database searches, the examination support document must identify the search logic or chemical structure or sequence used as a query, the name of the file or files searched and the database service, and the date of the search. Section 1.265(a)(2) provides that an examination support document must include a listing in compliance with Sec. 1.265(c) of the reference or references deemed most closely related to the subject matter of each of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form). The references that would be most closely related to the subject matter of each of the claims include: (1) A reference that discloses the most number of limitations in an independent claim; (2) a reference that discloses a limitation of an independent claim that is not shown in any other reference in the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2); and (3) a reference that discloses a limitation of a dependent claim that is not shown in any other reference in the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2). References that are only relevant to the general subject matter of the claims would not be most closely related to the subject matter of each of the claims if there are other references that are deemed to be more closely related to the subject matter of the claims. It is envisioned that the reference or references presented as being most closely related to the subject matter of the claims will generally be references that result from the preexamination search provided for in Sec. 1.265(a)(1). The preexamination search provided for in Sec. 1.265(a)(1) should result in the reference or references that are most closely related to the subject matter of the claims. However, an applicant may not exclude a reference from an examination support document simply because the reference was not the result of the preexamination search provided for in Sec. 1.265(a)(1). The reference, for instance, may have been brought to applicant's attention via a foreign or PCT search report. References that have [[Page 46742]] been brought to the applicant's attention regardless of the source of those references must be considered in identifying the reference or references most closely related to the subject matter of each of the claims. Section 1.265(a)(3) provides that an examination support document must, for each reference in the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2), identify all of the limitations of each of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) that are disclosed by the reference. Applicant may satisfy this requirement either by mapping the limitations of each of the claims to the references or by mapping the references to the limitations of the claims. Applicants may map the limitations of each of the claims to the references by, for each claim, identifying where the cited references disclose features, showings, or teachings that are relevant to each limitation of such claim. Applicants may map the references to the limitations of the claims by, for each cited reference, identifying where the reference discloses features, showings, or teachings that are relevant to the limitations of each of the claims. Section 1.265(a)(3) requires the applicant to identify at least one appearance in the reference (a representative portion) of a specific feature, showing, or teaching for which the reference is being cited. If the feature, showing, or teaching appears in more than one portion of the reference, applicant would not need to specifically point out more than one occurrence. Applicant, however, should do so where the additional appearance may not be apparent to the examiner and may have some additional significance over its first identified appearance. If an applicant recognizes that a document is relevant for more than one feature, showing, or teaching, the applicant would need to specifically identify each additional feature, showing, or teaching and the portion where the feature, showing, or teaching appears in the document. A mere statement indicating that the entire reference, or substantially the entire reference, is relevant would not comply with Sec. 1.265(a)(3). Section 1.265(a)(4) provides that an examination support document must include a detailed explanation particularly pointing out how each of the independent claims is patentable over the references cited in the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2). The explanation required by Sec. 1.265(a)(4) may be set forth together with the identification required by Sec. 1.265(a)(3) or may be provided separately. For example, the identification required by Sec. 1.265(a)(3) and the explanation required by Sec. 1.265(a)(4) may be set out in a single spreadsheet with two columns, or may be set out in two spreadsheets. A general statement that all of the claim limitations are not described in a single reference does not satisfy the requirements of Sec. 1.265(a)(4). Section 1.265(a)(4) requires that the examination support document set out with particularity, by reference to one or more specific claim limitations, why the claimed subject matter is not described in the references, taken as a whole. The applicant must explain why a person of ordinary skill in the art would not have combined the features disclosed in one reference with features disclosed in another reference to arrive at the claimed subject matter. The applicant must also explain why the claim limitations referenced render the claimed subject matter novel and non- obvious over the cited prior art. Section 1.265(a)(5) provides that an examination support document must include a showing of where each limitation of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) finds support under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the written description of the specification. If the application claims the benefit of one or more applications under title 35, United States Code, the showing must also include where each limitation of the claims finds support under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in each such application in which such support exists. For means- (or step-) plus-function claim elements under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, this requires: (1) That the claim limitation be identified as means- (or step-) plus-function claim element under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6; and (2) that the structure, material, or acts in the specification that correspond to each means- (or step-) plus-function claim element under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 6, be identified. See Changes to Practice for Petitions in Patent Applications To Make Special and for Accelerated Examination, 71 FR at 36325, 1308 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 107. If the examiner, after considering the application and any examination support document, still has questions concerning the invention or how the claims define over the prior art or are patentable, the examiner may request an interview before the first Office action. If the applicant declines such a request for an interview or if the interview does not result in the examiner obtaining the necessary information, the examiner may issue a requirement for information under Sec. 1.105 to obtain such information. Section 1.133(a)(2) was amended in November of 2005 to permit an interview before the first Office action if the examiner determines that such an interview would advance prosecution. See Provisions for Claiming the Benefit of a Provisional Application With a Non-English Specification and Other Miscellaneous Matters, 70 FR at 56121, 56128, 1299 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 144, 150. Applicant may request an interview before the first Office action. Such a request is ordinarily granted in a continuing application or if the examiner determines that the interview would advance prosecution. See Sec. 1.133(a)(2) and MPEP Sec. 713.02. Section 1.265(b) provides that the preexamination search must involve U.S. patents and patent application publications, foreign patent documents, and non-patent literature, unless the applicant can justify with reasonable certainty that no references more pertinent than those already identified are likely to be found in the eliminated source. That justification must be included in the statement required by Sec. 1.265(a)(1). Section 1.265(b) also provides that the preexamination search must encompass all of the limitations of the independent claims. It must also encompass all of the limitations of the dependent claims separately from the claim or claims from which they depend. The claims must be given the broadest reasonable interpretation. A search report from a foreign patent office will not automatically satisfy the requirement in Sec. 1.265(a)(1) for a preexamination search unless it includes the information required by Sec. 1.265. Section 1.265(c) provides for the content requirements of the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2) as part of an examination support document. Section 1.265(c) provides the same content requirements as those that are currently provided in Sec. Sec. 1.98(a) and (b). Specifically, Sec. 1.265(c) provides that the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2) as part of an examination support document must include a list identifying each of the cited references (Sec. Sec. 1.265(c)(1) and (c)(2)), a copy of each reference except for references that are U.S. patents or U.S. patent application publications (Sec. 1.265(c)(3)), and each English language translation if required by Sec. 1.265(c)(4). Applicant may use the USPTO form, ``Examination Support Document Listing of References,'' to submit the listing of references. The form will be available on the Office's Internet Web site at http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/index.html#patent . Section 1.265(c)(1) provides that the list of cited references must group U.S. patents and U.S. patent application publications (including international [[Page 46743]] applications designating the United States) in a section separate from other references. Section 1.265(c)(1) also provides that each page of the list of the cited references must include: (1) The application number, if known, of the application in which the examination support document is being filed; (2) a column that provides a space next to each cited reference for the examiner's initials; and (3) a heading that clearly indicates that the list is part of an examination support document listing of references. Section 1.265(c)(2) provides that the list of cited references must identify each cited reference as follows: (1) Each U.S. patent must be identified by first named patentee, patent number, and issue date; (2) each U.S. patent application publication must be identified by applicant, patent application publication number, and publication date; (3) each U.S. application must be identified by the applicant, application number, and filing date; (4) each foreign patent or published foreign patent application must be identified by the country or patent office which issued the patent or published the application, an appropriate document number, and the publication date indicated on the patent or published application; and (5) each publication must be identified by publisher (e.g., name of journal), author (if any), title, relevant pages of the publication, publication date, and place of publication. Section 1.265(c)(4) provides that if a non-English language document is being cited, any existing English language translation of the non-English language document must be submitted if the translation is within the possession, custody, or control of, or is readily available to any individual identified in Sec. 1.56(c). Section 1.265(d) provides for a supplemental examination support document. If an information disclosure statement is filed in an application in which an examination support document is required and has been filed, the applicant must also file a supplemental examination support document addressing the references cited in the information disclosure statement in the manner required under Sec. Sec. 1.265(a)(3) and (a)(4), unless the information disclosure statement cites only references that are less closely related to the subject matter of one or more claims than the references cited in the examination support document listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2). Section 1.265(e) provides that the applicant will be notified if: (1) The examination support document or preexamination search is deemed to be insufficient; or (2) the claims have been amended such that the examination support document no longer covers each claim. The notice will give the applicant a two-month time period within which the applicant must either file a corrected or supplemental examination support document or amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims in order to avoid abandonment. Section 1.265(e) further provides that this two-month period is not extendable under Sec. 1.136(a). Section 1.265(f) provides an exemption from the requirement in Sec. 1.265(a)(3) that an examination support document must, for each reference cited in the listing of references required under Sec. 1.265(a)(2), include an identification of all of the limitations of each of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) that are disclosed by the reference that applies to applications by a small entity as defined by the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). The Regulatory Flexibility Act defines a ``small entity'' as a ``small business'' as defined in 5 U.S.C. 601(3), a ``small organization'' as defined in 5 U.S.C. 601(4), and a ``small governmental jurisdiction'' as defined 5 U.S.C. 601(5). See 5 U.S.C. 601(6). Section 1.265(f) specifically provides that an examination support document, or a corrected or supplemental examination support document, is not required to comply with the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.265(a)(3) if the examination support document is accompanied by a certification that any rights in the application have not been assigned, granted, conveyed, or licensed, and there is no obligation under contract or law to assign, grant, convey, or license any rights in the application, other than a security interest that has not been defaulted upon, to any entity other than a business or other concern as defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(1), a not-for-profit enterprise as defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(2), or a government as defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(3). A business or other concern which meets the definition set forth in Sec. 1.265(f)(1), a not-for-profit enterprise that meets the definition set forth in Sec. 1.265(f)(2), or a government that meets the definition set forth in Sec. 1.265(f)(3) may make the certification provided for in Sec. 1.265(f) regardless of whether the business or other concern, not-for-profit enterprise, or government is located in or operates primarily in the United States. With respect to the business or other concerns defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(1), the Regulatory Flexibility Act provides that ``the term `small business' has the same meaning as the term `small business concern' under section 3 of the Small Business Act, unless an agency, after consultation with the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration and after opportunity for public comment, establishes one or more definitions of such term which are appropriate to the activities of the agency and publishes such definition(s) in the Federal Register.'' See 5 U.S.C. 601(3). The Office has established the standard set forth in 13 CFR 121.802 for paying reduced patent fees as the definition of ``small business'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations. Therefore, a ``small business'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations is a business or other concern: (1) Whose number of employees, including affiliates, does not exceed 500 persons; and (2) which has not assigned, granted, conveyed, or licensed (and is under no obligation to do so) any rights in the invention to any person who made it and could not be classified as an independent inventor, or to any concern which would not qualify as a non-profit organization or a small business concern under this definition. With respect to the not-for-profit enterprises defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(2), the Regulatory Flexibility Act provides that ``the term `small organization' means any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field, unless an agency establishes, after opportunity for public comment, one or more definitions of such term which are appropriate to the activities of the agency and publishes such definition(s) in the Federal Register.'' See 5 U.S.C. 601(4). The Office has not established any definition of ``small organization'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations. Therefore, a ``small organization'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations is a not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field. With respect to the governments defined in Sec. 1.265(f)(3), the Regulatory Flexibility Act provides that ``the term `small governmental jurisdiction' means governments of cities, counties, towns, townships, villages, school districts, or special districts, with a population of less than fifty thousand, unless an [[Page 46744]] agency establishes, after opportunity for public comment, one or more definitions of such term which are appropriate to the activities of the agency and which are based on such factors as location in rural or sparsely populated areas or limited revenues due to the population of such jurisdiction, and publishes such definition(s) in the Federal Register.'' See 5 U.S.C. 601(5). The Office has not established any definition of ``small governmental jurisdiction'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations. Therefore, a ``small governmental jurisdiction'' for Regulatory Flexibility Act purposes with respect to patent-related regulations is a government of a city, county, town, township, village, school district, or special district, with a population of less than fifty thousand. An entity that meets the definition of a small entity set forth in Sec. 1.27 for paying reduced patent fees may or may not meet one of the definitions under Sec. Sec. 1.265(f)(1) through (f)(3) to make a certification under Sec. 1.265(f). The Office will not give advisory opinions as to whether or not a specific individual or entity meets the definitions under Sec. Sec. 1.265(f)(1) through (f)(3) to make a certification under Sec. 1.265(f). Questions related to standards for small business concerns, not-for-profit enterprises, or governments may be directed to: Small Business Administration, Size Standards Staff, 409 Third Street, SW., Washington, DC 20416. Section 1.495 (entering the national stage in the United States of America): Section 1.495(g) provides that if the documents and fees contain conflicting indications as to whether the submission is an application under 35 U.S.C. 111 or a submission to enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371, the documents and fees will be treated as a submission to enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371. It is Office experience that, in most cases, documents and fees that contain such conflicting indications were intended as submissions under 35 U.S.C. 371. Section 1.704 (reduction of period of adjustment of patent term): Section 1.704(c) is amended to provide the patent term adjustment consequences of a failure to comply with Sec. 1.75(b) (e.g., a failure to file an examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265 when necessary under Sec. 1.75(b)). Such a failure will be considered a circumstance that constitutes a failure of an applicant to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude processing or examination of an application under 35 U.S.C. 154(b)(2)(C). The failure to comply with Sec. 1.75(b) will delay processing or examination of an application because the Office must issue a notice and await the applicant's reply before examination of the application may begin. Therefore, Sec. 1.704(c) provides for a reduction of any patent term adjustment when there is a failure to comply with Sec. 1.75(b). Specifically, any patent term adjustment will be reduced by the number of days in the period between the following beginning and ending dates. The beginning date of the period is the day after the date that is the later of: (1) The filing date of the amendment resulting in the noncompliance with Sec. 1.75(b); (2) four months from the filing date of the application in an application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a); or (3) four months from the date on which the national stage commenced under 35 U.S.C. 371(b) or (f) in an application which entered the national stage from an international application after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371. The ending date of the period is the filing date of: (1) An examination support document in compliance with Sec. 1.265; (2) an election responsive to an Office-issued requirement for restriction including an election of species that places the application in compliance with Sec. 1.75(b) (e.g., the election of an invention that is drawn to five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims that would obviate the need for an examination support document under Sec. 1.265); (3) an amendment resulting in compliance with Sec. 1.75(b) (e.g., amending the application to contain five or fewer independent claims and twenty-five or fewer total claims); (4) a suggested requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c) accompanied by an election without traverse of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. The examiner's acceptance of a suggested requirement for restriction accompanied by an election without traverse of an invention to which there are no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims would be sufficient to obviate the need for an examination support document under Sec. 1.265. If the suggested requirement for restriction is not accepted, the applicant will be notified and given a time period within which the applicant must either file an examination support document or amend the application such that it contains no more than five independent claims and no more than twenty-five total claims. Failure to timely reply to such a notice would result in the abandonment of the application. The abandonment of an application results in the period of adjustment set forth in Sec. 1.703 (if any) being reduced under Sec. 1.704(c)(3). III. Response to Comments As discussed previously, the Office published notices in January of 2006 proposing: (1) Changes to practice for continuing applications, requests for continued examination, and applications containing patentably indistinct claims; and (2) changes to the practice for the examination of claims in patent applications. See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR at 48-61, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1318-29, and Changes to Practice for the Examination of Claims in Patent Applications, 71 FR 61-69, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 1329-35. The Office received over five hundred written comments (from government agencies, universities, intellectual property organizations, industry, law firms, individual patent practitioners, and the general public) in response to this notice. The comments and the Office's responses to the comments follow: A. Changes to Continuing Application Practice Comment 1: A number of comments stated that the changes in the definitions of continuation, divisional, and continuation-in-part applications set forth in Sec. 1.78(a) are likely to confuse the public and examiners and that the Office has not identified any value that would result from these changes. Several comments suggested that further guidance was needed to resolve ambiguities as to whether an application is a divisional or continuation application. One comment argued that the requirement to identify the relationship of the applications could create hardship when it is unclear whether the changes to the specification or claims make the application a continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part application. Response: The definitional changes are necessary in order to clearly define the conditions for claiming benefit of prior-filed applications under Sec. 1.78(d)(1). This final rule further clarifies the definition of a divisional application set forth in Sec. 1.78(a)(2). Under this final rule, an applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention if the prior-filed application is subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the [[Page 46745]] pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. Thus, applicant may file a divisional application claiming the benefit of the initial application that was subject to the requirement for restriction and any intermediate continuing applications. Furthermore, the definitions of continuation, divisional, and continuation-in-part application set forth in Sec. 1.78(a) are substantially the same as the previous definitions set forth in the MPEP, except that a divisional application is now defined more narrowly. See the discussion of Sec. 1.78(a). The former practice permitted an applicant to file a continuing application and identify the application as a ``divisional'' application even when the prior- filed application was not subject to a requirement for restriction. Such a continuing application was called a ``voluntary'' divisional application. Under this final rule, a ``voluntary'' divisional application would instead fall under the definition of a continuation application. Therefore, a continuing application would be a continuation application and not a divisional (``voluntary'' divisional) application if the prior-filed application was not subject to a requirement for restriction. If the prior-filed application was subject to a requirement for restriction, a continuing application claiming only a non-elected invention or inventions would be a divisional application. It is noted that although the definition of continuation application set forth in Sec. 1.78(a)(2) uses the phrase ``invention or inventions'' rather than ``subject matter'' (as used in the definition of continuation application set forth in MPEP Sec. 201.07), no substantive difference between these terms is intended. The requirement to identify the relationship (i.e., continuation, divisional, or continuation-in-part) between the prior-filed application and the continuing application is not a new requirement under this final rule. This requirement has been provided in the former Sec. 1.78(a)(2)(i). Accordingly, the definitions of continuation, divisional, and continuation-in-part application set forth in Sec. 1.78(a) are not likely to confuse the public or examiners for any extended period. Comment 2: A number of comments observed the proposed requirement that a divisional application may claim the benefit of only a single application would require that all divisional applications filed as a result of a restriction requirement in a prior-filed application be filed before the patenting or abandonment of that application. A number of comments suggested that the rule changes limiting divisional applications to claim benefit to only a single prior-filed application would result in an overall increase in application filings and pendency, contrary to their intended purpose. The comments contended the changes being adopted in this final rule effectively force applicants to claim all patentably distinct inventions in the prior- filed application or file related applications in parallel in order to preserve potential patent rights in those inventions. The comments suggested that since a divisional application must be filed during the pendency of the prior-filed application, many more divisional applications would be filed than would be filed under the current system, as applicants will not have sufficient time and information to determine whether the invention is worth pursuing. The comments stated that, consequently, the Office will be forced to examine more inventions than it would under current practice, wasting both applicants' and the Office's resources. A number of comments also suggested that the inability to prosecute divisional applications sequentially, thus allowing applicants to spread filing and prosecution costs over time and to file only those divisional applications that are commercially valuable in view of subsequent market development, will have a particularly negative impact on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and on small entities. The comments suggested that patent rights will be lost due to a lack of funding and that the increased costs will be particularly onerous in certain technologies, e.g., biotechnology and chemical arts, where the Office routinely issues complex restriction requirements, sometimes alleging hundreds or thousands of independent and distinct inventions. Several comments also suggested that the rules should be modified to account for the economic impossibility, in many cases, of pursuing numerous divisional applications simultaneously. One comment also suggested that the need to file multiple stand alone applications or divisional applications at an early stage in prosecution to cover all embodiments of the invention will cause small companies to cut back funding on research in favor of patent prosecution, thus hindering innovation. One comment also suggested that the rules be revised, consistent with European Patent Office divisional practice, to permit the serial filing of divisional applications with the limitation that claims pursued in a continuation of any serial divisional application must be of the same scope as, or of a narrower scope than, the claims presented in that serial divisional application. One comment also suggested that prior to implementing the rule changes, the Office should conduct a study to assess the scope of potential divisional filing problems by studying the divisional filing habits of large and small entity applicants. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed requirement in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) that a divisional application be filed during the pendency of the initial application. In response to those concerns and suggestions, Sec. 1.78(d)(ii) as adopted in this final rule does not require that a divisional application be filed during the pendency of the initial application. This final rule permits applicants to file a divisional application for the claims to a non-elected invention if the initial application is subject to a requirement for restriction, the claims to the non-elected invention are cancelled in the initial application, and the divisional application meets the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120. That is, an applicant may file a divisional application during the pendency of the application that was subject to a restriction requirement or the pendency of any continuing application of such application. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application, plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Comment 3: A number of comments suggested that the rule changes would encourage applicants to file more petitions challenging restriction requirements, thus further burdening the Office. Response: The criteria for making a restriction requirement remain the same. Applicant may still seek review of any restriction requirements, if appropriate. The Office, however, does not anticipate any substantial increase in the number of petitions seeking review of restriction requirements. As discussed previously, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) as adopted in this final rule does not require that a divisional application be filed during the pendency of a single prior-filed application. This final rule permits applicant to file a divisional application of an application if the application is subject to a requirement for restriction, claims to the non-elected invention are cancelled in the prior-filed application, and the divisional [[Page 46746]] application meets the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120. That is, applicant may file a divisional application during the pendency of the application that was subject to a requirement for restriction or the pendency of any continuing application of such application. Applicant will have sufficient time to determine whether to file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention. Comment 4: Several comments stated that the rule changes do not adequately address the situation where a restriction requirement is made by the examiner in a continuing application. The comments expressed concern that the rule changes appear to require applicant to forego all but one invention. One comment stated that the applicant's prior application, if published, may constitute prior art if benefit to the prior application is not permitted. Another comment suggested that concerns over prolonging patent term, abuse or bad faith are not raised where a divisional application is filed as a result of a restriction requirement made in the continuing application, and that such filings may actually improve quality, as the searches performed in the initial and first continuing application often provide significant information and guidance to the examiner in the second continuing application. Response: As discussed previously, the Office has modified the proposed Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) in this final rule such that it does not require a divisional application to be filed during the pendency of a single prior-filed application. Instead, this final rule permits an applicant to file a divisional application for the claims to a non- elected invention that was not examined if the application was subject to a requirement for restriction, the claims to the non-elected invention are cancelled in the prior-filed application, and the divisional application meets the copending requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120. Therefore, applicant may file a divisional application of a continuing application for the claims to a non-elected invention that has not been examined if the continuing application was subject to a requirement for restriction. Such a divisional application may claim the benefit of the continuing application that was subject to a requirement for restriction and the initial application whose benefit is claimed in the continuing application. Comment 5: One comment requested clarification as to whether a divisional application can be filed if a request for continued examination was filed in the initial application. Response: The filing of a request for continued examination in the initial application does not preclude an applicant from filing a divisional application under the proposed rule as well as under this final rule. The condition that ``no request for continued examination under Sec. 1.114 has been filed in the prior-filed application'' as proposed applied only to the filing of continuation and continuation- in-part applications under proposed Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i). Compare proposed Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii). Furthermore, Sec. 1.78(d)(1) as adopted in this final rule contains no conditions with respect to continuation applications, divisional applications, or continuation-in-part applications concerning whether a request for continued examination was filed in the initial application or a prior- filed continuing application. Therefore, the filing of a request for continued examination does not preclude an applicant from filing two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and any divisional application directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined if the prior-filed application was subject to a requirement for restriction. Comment 6: A number of comments requested that the Office not limit ``voluntary'' divisional applications. In addition, several comments noted the importance of ``voluntary'' divisional applications in protecting important inventions the significance of which could not reasonably be anticipated when the application was filed. Another comment indicated the importance of ``voluntary'' divisional applications for obtaining quick patents to protect applicants' products from competitors while preserving the opportunity to obtain patent protection on other aspects of the invention. Several comments stated that the standard under Sec. 1.78(d)(1) makes little sense when the objective of filing the continuing application is to obtain patents on distinct inventions. One of the comments expressed concern that each patent is, both by law and regulation, to be directed to a single invention and that patent applications directed to multiple inventions are subject to restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121. Response: This final rule permits applicants to file a so-called ``voluntary'' divisional application as a continuation application in compliance with Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) when the prior-filed application was not subject to a requirement for restriction. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i), applicant may file two such continuation applications without a petition and showing of why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. Applicant likewise may file a third or subsequent continuation application with a petition and showing pursuant to Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Furthermore, applicant may suggest a requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c) if the applicant believes that two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in the application. See Sec. 1.142(c) and the discussion of Sec. 1.142(c). In such case, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) provides that an applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined if the prior-filed application is subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application is not required to be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. Section Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii) also permits an applicant to file, without a petition and showing, two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family. Therefore, applicants have sufficient opportunity to obtain patent protection on other aspects of the invention. 35 U.S.C. 121 provides that ``[i]f two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in one application, the Director may require the application to be restricted to one of the inventions.'' (Emphasis added.) Thus, 35 U.S.C. 121 authorizes, but does not compel, the Director to require that an application containing two or more independent and distinct inventions be restricted to one of the inventions. The Office typically decides whether to issue a restriction requirement when an application contains two or more independent and distinct inventions based upon, inter alia, the burden on the Office to search and examine more than one invention. See MPEP Sec. 803. Comment 7: Several comments suggested that the restriction on a so- called ``voluntary'' divisional application would be a major divergence from other countries and would not be favorable from the viewpoint of promoting global harmonization of patent practices. One comment noted that the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) have liberal ``voluntary'' divisional application rules and have not reported any evidence of abuse. Response: Under this final rule, applicant still has the opportunity to file a so-called ``voluntary'' divisional application except that such an application is defined in this final rule [[Page 46747]] as a continuation application. That is, as discussed previously, applicant may file a ``voluntary'' divisional application as a continuation application in compliance with Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) when the prior-filed application was not subject to a requirement for restriction. Specifically, under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i), applicant may file two continuing applications of an initial application without a petition and showing and then may file a third or subsequent continuation with a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Accordingly, this final rule is not a major divergence from the ``voluntary'' divisional practice available in other countries. Moreover, under the PCT and the Paris Convention, the determination of the conditions and effect of internal (domestic) priority claims is a matter for the authority concerned. See, e.g., PCT Article 8(2)(b) and Article 4(G)(2) of the Paris Convention. Efforts in recent years to harmonize substantive patent law have not focused on achieving harmonization on domestic priority. (See http://www.wipo.int/patent/law/en/harmonization.htm for further information). Comment 8: Several comments suggested that eliminating ``voluntary'' divisional applications violates Article 4G(2) of the Paris Convention. Response: Section 1.78(d) as adopted in this final rule does not eliminate what has traditionally been referred to as a ``voluntary'' divisional application. The second sentence of Article 4G(2) of the Paris Convention provides that each country ``shall have the right to determine the conditions under which such division shall be authorized.'' As discussed previously, a ``voluntary'' divisional application would not meet the definition of divisional application set forth in Sec. 1.78(a)(2), but would instead be a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3). If the prior-filed application is not subject to a requirement for restriction, the applicant may file a ``voluntary'' divisional application as a continuation application under the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i). Such a definition is consistent with 35 U.S.C. 121. Furthermore, if the prior-filed application is subject to a requirement for restriction, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) provides that an applicant may file an ``involuntary'' divisional application directed to a non- elected invention that has not been examined. Therefore, Sec. 1.78(d) is consistent with Article 4G(2) of the Paris Convention. Comment 9: One comment suggested amending proposed Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) to define a divisional application as an application that only includes claims that were non-elected in the prior-filed application to prevent new claims from being filed in the divisional application, thus further increasing the numbers of claims that examiners have to examine. Response: Such a requirement is unnecessary because applicant may amend the non-elected claims that have been filed in the divisional application during the course of prosecution of the divisional applications as the prior art is developed and/or to correct formal matters. Section Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) as adopted in this final rule permits an applicant to file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined that was subject to a requirement for restriction in the prior-filed application. Therefore, applicant may present claims in the divisional application that are different than the claims in the prior-filed application if the claims in the divisional application are directed to the subject matter of the non-elected invention. Comment 10: One comment expressed concern that the Office may pressure examiners to limit the issuance of restrictions in order to reduce the number of applications to be examined, thus artificially making it look like the pendency rate has gone down. The comment requested that the Office implement a policy mandating examiners to issue restrictions when requested by the applicant, except in cases where it is clear that such restrictions are not proper. Response: Restriction practice is set forth in Chapter 800 of the MPEP. As discussed previously, the applicant may suggest a requirement for restriction under Sec. 1.142(c) if the applicant believes that two or more independent and distinct inventions are claimed in the application. The examiner may accept or refuse the suggested restriction requirement. Alternatively, the examiner may issue a different restriction. See the discussion of Sec. 1.142(c). Either way, it remains important from the standpoint of the public interest that no requirements for restriction are made that might result in the issuance of two patents for the same invention. See MPEP Sec. 803.01. Comment 11: One comment questioned the status of a divisional application if the restriction requirement is withdrawn after filing of the divisional application. Response: If a restriction requirement is made and the applicant cancels the non-elected claims (and any generic claims or other types of linking claims if present) in the prior-filed application and files a divisional application, the restriction requirement will not be withdrawn. Also, as discussed previously, applicants cannot rely upon a requirement for restriction to avoid the requirement for an examination support document where: (1) The applicant traverses the requirement for restriction; (2) the requirement for restriction may be conditional, such as a requirement for election of species in an application that contains a claim that is generic to all of the claimed species (see MPEP Sec. 809), or a requirement for restriction in an application that contains a linking claim (e.g., a subcombination claim linking plural combinations); or (3) the applicant plans to request rejoinder of the claims to the non-elected invention (see MPEP Sec. 821.04 et seq.). Under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii), the prior-filed application to which a divisional application claims the benefit must be subject to a requirement to comply with the requirement of unity of invention under PCT Rule 13 or a requirement for restriction under 35 U.S.C. 121 and the invention claimed in the divisional application must not have been elected for examination and must not have been examined in any prior-filed application. Thus, a divisional application will be improper when the claims to the non-elected invention have not been cancelled and the requirement for restriction is withdrawn in the prior-filed application (or when the invention claimed in the divisional application has been examined in the prior-filed application). Furthermore, since the claims of the prior-filed application and the divisional application would be drawn to the same invention, both applications may be subject to a double patenting rejection (see MPEP Sec. 821.04) and the provisions of 1.75(b)(4) (determining number of claims for purposes of examination support document threshold when multiple applications contain patentably indistinct claims). For example, where claims directed to a product and to a process of making and/or using the product are presented in the same application and subject to a requirement for restriction, the applicant may request rejoinder of the non-elected process claims that depend from or otherwise require all the limitations of an allowable product claim. See MPEP Sec. 821.04(b). Upon rejoinder of claims to a non-elected process invention, the requirement for restriction between the elected product and non-elected process invention is withdrawn. Thus, the rejoinder of non-elected process claims after allowance of the elected product claims may result in a prior or subsequently filed [[Page 46748]] ``divisional'' application not being a proper divisional application under Sec. Sec. 1.78(a)(2) and 1.78(d)(1)(ii) because the prior-filed application is no longer subject to a requirement for restriction. Applicant may avoid this problem by canceling the non-elected process claims and claiming them in a divisional application before rejoinder occurs. In such a situation, because the non-elected claims have been cancelled, the restriction requirement cannot be withdrawn. This will preserve applicant's rights under 35 U.S.C. 121 and Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii). If the applicant chooses to retain the non-elected claims and files a divisional application claiming the non-elected invention and then the restriction requirement is withdrawn in the prior-filed application, the benefit claim under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) in the later- filed divisional application would no longer be proper. Thus, the later-filed application would not be entitled to the benefit of the prior-filed application. If applicant still desires to maintain the later-filed application, applicant must delete or correct the benefit claim to indicate that the application is a continuation application if the requirements set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) can be met. If applicant no longer wants to maintain the later-filed application, applicant may abandon the application before the examination has been made of the application and may request a refund of any previously paid search and excess claims fees. Comment 12: A number of comments suggested that limiting continuation-in-part applications was unnecessary. The comments explained that concerns associated with continually reopening prosecution do not apply to continuation-in-part applications, which are usually filed as a result of the inventor having developed a significant improvement in the invention. One comment stated that limiting continuation-in-part applications will not reduce application filings, but rather will simply cause applicants to file the application as a new application without a benefit claim because the claims of the continuation-in-part application are usually directed to the new subject matter and thus not entitled to benefit of the parent filing date. Several comments suggested that continuation-in-part applications are necessary for adequate protection of improvements to the invention and that these improvements often become the key feature of an invention that leads to its success. One comment, however, suggested that continuation-in-part practice be terminated, because with the twenty-year patent term, there is no benefit to applicant or to the Office associated with continuing this practice. Response: Inconsistent rules for continuation applications and continuation-in-part applications would likely lead to confusion and create the potential for abuse. First, there is no reason to treat continuation applications different from continuation-in-part applications where both fall under Sec. 1.78 and are contemplated by 35 U.S.C. 120. Second, there is no reason why the Office should maintain the ability to file an unlimited string of continuation-in- part applications without justification while proceeding with a change to Sec. 1.78 to require a justification for any third or subsequent continuation application. Third, if applicants could file continuation- in-part applications without restriction, then they could be used as a tool to circumvent this final rule. Thus, the Office considers it appropriate to require a justification for any third or subsequent continuing application that is a continuation application or a continuation-in-part application. The changes in this final rule do not impact applicants' ability to protect improvements to the invention disclosed in a prior-filed application. Section 1.78(d)(1)(i) allows an applicant to file two continuation-in-part applications of a prior-filed application without a petition and showing. Applicant may also file any third or subsequent continuation-in-part application with a petition and showing. Hence, applicants have ample opportunity to seek protection for improvements. Furthermore, for the continuation-in-part application to actually receive the benefit of the filing date of the prior-filed application, 35 U.S.C. 120 requires that the subject matter of at least one claim of the continuation-in-part application must be disclosed in the prior- filed application in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1. See Studiengesellschaft Kohle m.b.H, 112 F.3d at 1564-65, 42 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1677-78. The term of any patent resulting from the continuation-in-part application will be measured under 35 U.S.C. 154(a)(2) from the filing date of the prior-filed application, even if the continuation-in-part application never receives any benefit from the prior-filed application. See Abbott Labs., 104 F.3d at 1309, 41 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1537. To maximize the term of any resulting patent, applicant should file the application containing only claims directed to the improvements without claiming the benefit of the prior-filed application rather than a continuation-in-part application. Comment 13: Several comments suggested that, if the prior-filed application is abandoned in favor of a continuation-in-part application before examination of the prior-filed application, or is filed within a short time of the prior-filed application, the limits on continuing applications should not include such continuation-in-part applications. Several comments explained that in rapidly advancing sciences, continuation-in-part applications are often filed while abandoning the prior application in the chain before an examination of the merits. Thus, a continuation-in-part application is often the first in a series to be examined as an initial application. At a minimum, the rules should be modified to exclude from counting prior-filed applications that are abandoned before issuance of a first action on the merits. Response: Section 1.78(d)(1)(v) as adopted in this final rule addresses the situation in which an applicant files a continuation (or continuation-in-part) application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v), if the prior-filed application is abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to an Office notice issued under Sec. 1.53(f)), the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) without there being a requirement for a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v) provides that a continuation application or continuation-in-part application is permitted if the following conditions are met: (1) The application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of a prior-filed nonprovisional application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a), and the prior-filed nonprovisional application became abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to an Office notice issued under Sec. 1.53(f) and does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America; (2) the application is a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in-part application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of no more than three prior-filed applications; and (3) any application whose benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in such nonprovisional application has its benefit claimed in no more than two other nonprovisional applications. This does not include any divisional [[Page 46749]] application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) or continuation application that claims the benefit of such divisional application and satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii). For example, applicant may file a third continuation (or continuation-in-part) application claiming the benefit of an intervening (second) continuation (or continuation-in-part) application, a first continuation (or continuation-in-part) application, and a prior-filed application without a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi), if the prior-filed application became abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to a Notice to File Missing Parts mailed by the Office of Initial Patent Examination and does not claim the benefit of any other application. The prior-filed application, however, must be entitled to a filing date and have paid therein the basic filing fee within the pendency of the application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(2). Comment 14: One comment suggested that the rule changes encourage applicants to file two applications, i.e., a continuation-in-part application and a divisional application, rather than a single continuation-in-part application, where the non-elected invention is further developed. The comment stated that this is inefficient for both the Office and applicants. Response: The Office appreciates that the changes being adopted in this final rule do provide some incentive for applicants who seek only to maximize the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination permitted without any justification to file both a continuation-in-part application and a divisional application in this situation. However, applicants seeking to maximize the number of continued examination filings are not likely to file only a single continuation-in-part application in this situation under either the former practice or the change to continuing application practice being adopted in this final rule. Furthermore, this final rule permits applicant to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. And, this final rule permits applicant to file two continuation applications plus one request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Comment 15: One comment suggested that continuation-in-part applications are an important tool for correcting errors in the initial application (e.g., correction of test data) and this should be encouraged, rather than discouraged. Response: The Office is neither encouraging nor discouraging the filing of continuation-in-part applications. Rather, this final rule treats continuation-in-part applications roughly the same as continuation applications. That is, applicant is permitted to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications of an initial application without a petition and showing. Applicant is also permitted to file a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application with a petition and showing. See Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i). The only notable difference between the two, apart from their definitions, is that an applicant may file only a continuation application of a divisional application and not a continuation-in-part application of a divisional application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii). Nevertheless, applicants may use continuation-in-part applications to correct initial applications under this final rule to the extent they were used for this purpose before this final rule. Furthermore, as previously discussed, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v) as adopted in this final rule provides that if an applicant files a continuation (or continuation-in-part) application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53, the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) without there being a requirement for a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). See Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v). Comment 16: One comment suggested that the Office should require applicants to certify that no 35 U.S.C. 102(b) bar applies for continuation-in-part applications filed more than twelve months from the earliest claimed date. Response: Under Sec. 1.56, applicant has a duty to disclose to the Office all information known to applicant to be material to patentability including any prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(b). This includes a reference with a publication date more than one year prior to the filing date of the continuation-in-part application if at least one claim in the continuation-in-part application is drawn to the subject matter not disclosed in the prior-filed application. Applicant is required to file a newly executed oath or declaration under Sec. 1.63 upon the filing of a continuation-in-part application. See Sec. 1.63(e). The oath or declaration under Sec. 1.63 must include a statement that the person making the oath or declaration acknowledges the duty to disclose to the Office all information known to the person to be material to patentability as defined in Sec. 1.56. See Sec. 1.63(b)(3). Comment 17: One comment argued that requiring applicant to identify whether the claims are supported by the specification before the examination is unfair and unreasonable because it is a legal issue that should be determined during the prosecution. Another comment suggested that the Office should, at most, require applicant to identify the differences between the continuation-in-part application and the prior- filed application. Another comment suggested that when a continuation- in-part application is filed, the Office should require the applicant to discuss whether the new matter added to the specification is inventive or based on ordinary skill. One comment, however, supported the requirement for a continuation-in-part applicant to identify which claims are disclosed in the prior-filed application and thus are entitled to the earlier filing date. Response: Applicants are in the best position to identify the effective filing date of their claims. Thus, Sec. 1.78(d)(3) provides that if an application is identified as a continuation-in-part application, the applicant must identify the claim or claims for which the subject matter is disclosed in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, in the prior-filed application. Any claim that is not so identified will be treated as only being entitled to the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application, and subjected to prior art based on the actual filing date of the continuation-in-part application. Whether any ``new matter'' is inventive or based on ordinary skill is not determinative of whether the claims of the continuation-in-part application are entitled to the filing date of the prior-filed application. The test is whether the original disclosure of the prior- filed application provides adequate support and enablement for the claimed subject matter of the continuation-in-part application in compliance with the requirement of 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1. See MPEP Sec. 201.11, I, Disclosure Requirement. Comment 18: A number of comments suggested that the rule changes effectively eliminate the use of ``bypass'' continuing applications (i.e., an application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) that claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of the filing date of an earlier international application that did not enter the national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371). The comments argued that a bypass continuing application would be counted as a continuing application whereas a national stage submission under 35 U.S.C. 371 would not. The comments indicated that there are [[Page 46750]] important reasons for filing bypass applications and suggested that it is unfair to treat bypass applications differently than national stage applications because in both applications the examiner will be examining the claims for compliance with U.S. national law for the first time. Consequently, a number of comments recommended that the international application should not be counted toward the threshold for filing continuing applications unless the international application enters the U.S. national stage, while other comments recommended that the bypass application should not be counted. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed changes to Sec. 1.78(d)(1). The Office has modified proposed Sec. 1.78(d)(1) in this final rule to provide for certain ``bypass'' continuing applications. Under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv), if a Demand has not been filed and the basic national fee has not been paid in the international application, and the international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America, the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation application (or continuation-in-part application) of such international application without there being a requirement for a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv) provides that a continuation application or continuation-in-part application is permitted if the following conditions are met: (1) The application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of a prior-filed international application designating the United States of America, and a Demand has not been filed and the basic national fee (Sec. 1.492(a)) has not been paid in the prior- filed international application and the prior-filed international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America; (2) the application is either a continuation application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(3) or a continuation-in-part application as defined in Sec. 1.78(a)(4) that claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of no more than three (rather than two) prior-filed applications; and (3) any application whose benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in such nonprovisional application has its benefit claimed in no more than two (rather than one) other nonprovisional applications. This does not include any divisional application that satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii) or continuation application that claims the benefit of such divisional application and satisfies the conditions set forth in Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iii). For example, applicant may file a third continuation application claiming the benefit of an intervening (second) continuation (or continuation-in-part) application, the first ``bypass'' continuation (or continuation-in-part) application, and the prior-filed international application without a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi), if a Demand has not been filed and the basic national fee has not been paid in the international application, and the international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America. Comment 19: Several comments questioned whether an international application that designates the United States of America and claims benefit to a prior nonprovisional application would be treated as a second continuation application upon entry into the U.S. national stage if a request for continued examination is filed in the nonprovisional application prior to entering the national stage. Another comment questioned whether a request for continued examination could be filed in a nonprovisional application if a U.S. national stage application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) to the nonprovisional application. Several comments suggested that if an international application designating the United States of America claims benefit to a prior-filed nonprovisional application, and a request for continued examination is filed in the nonprovisional application, then a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) would be required, in violation of PCT Rule 51bis, in order to perfect entry of the international application into the U.S. national stage. The comments also suggested that any refusal to grant such a petition would violate the PCT because there is no basis in the treaty for refusing national stage perfection on such grounds. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 that would permit an applicant to file only one of the following: A continuation application, a continuation-in-part application, or a request for continued examination, without any justification. The Office has made modifications to these proposed changes such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Therefore, under this final rule, applicant is permitted to have the national stage of an international application designating the United States of America claim the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional application in which a request for continued examination has been filed without a petition and showing. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. The filing of a request for continued examination in a nonprovisional application does not preclude a U.S. national stage application from claiming the benefit of the nonprovisional application. Likewise, a U.S. national stage application claiming the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) of a nonprovisional application will not preclude an applicant from filing a request for continued examination in the nonprovisional application. Applicant may also file any additional continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing. If an international application that enters the U.S. national stage contains or is amended to contain a specific reference to a prior-filed application that is not permitted by at least one of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through (d)(1)(vi), the Office will refuse to enter, or will delete if present, the specific reference to the prior-filed application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(1). Furthermore, the national stage application will be treated as entitled only to the actual international filing date of the national stage application, and will be subject to prior art based on the actual international filing date. Refusal to grant a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) (assuming such a petition is necessary) would not prevent an applicant from completing the requirements for entry into the national phase under 35 U.S.C. 371. The requirements for entry of an international application into the national phase under 35 U.S.C. 371 are set forth in 35 U.S.C. 371(c) and Sec. 1.495. The effect of a refusal to grant any such petition would only be that the national stage application would not be entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the nonprovisional application under 35 U.S.C. 120 and 365(c). Furthermore, the necessity to file a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) in the national stage application to obtain benefit to the nonprovisional application would not [[Page 46751]] violate PCT Rule 51bis. PCT Rule 51bis does not govern the requirements that a designated Office may impose for recognition of domestic benefit claims. Rather, the ability of a designated Office to establish conditions for, and the effect of, domestic benefit claims is expressly provided for in PCT Article 8(2). PCT Article 8(2) states, in pertinent part, that ``[w]here, in the international application, the priority of one or more national applications filed in or for a designated State is claimed, or where the priority of an international application having designated only one State is claimed, the conditions for, and the effect of, the priority claim in that State shall be governed by the national law of that State.'' Comment 20: Several comments suggested that the rules create an anomaly. The comments argued that if an application is first filed as a nonprovisional application followed by an international application claiming benefit to the nonprovisional application, and a request for continued examination is subsequently filed in the nonprovisional application, then a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) would be needed when the international application enters the U.S. national phase. The comments, however, further argued that if the application is first filed as a provisional application followed by, one year later, concurrently filed international and nonprovisional applications both claiming benefit to the provisional application, then a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) would not be needed when the international application enters the U.S. national phase even if a request for continued examination was filed in the nonprovisional application. Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Therefore, under this final rule, applicant may enter the U.S. national stage in an international application designating the United States of America claiming the benefit of a prior-filed nonprovisional application in which a request for continued examination has been filed without a petition and showing. As discussed previously, the provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. The filing of a request for continued examination in a nonprovisional application does not preclude a U.S. national stage application from claiming the benefit of the nonprovisional application. Note that, in the first described application chain, the international application claims benefit to a nonprovisional application under 35 U.S.C. 120 or 365(c) and therefore is a ``continuing application'' as defined in Sec. 1.78(a). In the second described application chain, the international application is not a continuing application as it only claims benefit to the provisional application. In any event, Sec. 1.78(d)(1) as adopted in this final rule would not require a petition and showing for the national stage application to claim the benefit of a prior-filed application in which a request for continued examination has been filed. Comment 21: One comment argued that applicants who first file a nonprovisional application followed by a continuation-in-part application would not be able to designate the United States in any subsequently filed international application without a showing as to why the international application could not have been filed earlier. The comment argued that this violates the PCT. Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes to Sec. 1.78(d)(1) such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Therefore, under this final rule, applicant may file an international application designating the United States of America claiming the benefit of two prior-filed nonprovisional applications without a petition and showing. Applicant may also file any additional continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing. The petition procedure under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) applies only to international applications that have entered the U.S. national stage after compliance with 35 U.S.C. 371. Thus, the rule neither requires nor provides for the submission of such petitions in international applications during the international phase. It is also noted that under PCT Rule 4.9, the designation of all states, including the United States of America, in international applications is automatic upon filing of the PCT request. Comment 22: Several comments questioned whether the limitation on the examination of claims in nonprovisional applications under Sec. 1.75(b) could be circumvented by first filing an international application with as many claims as desired and then entering the U.S. national phase after the claims have been searched in the international phase. The comments suggested that the Office should examine all claims in a national stage application that were the subject of a search and written opinion in the international phase, particularly if the United States Patent and Trademark Office was the international searching authority. Response: The requirements of Sec. 1.75(b) apply to national stage applications under 35 U.S.C. 371 as well as to applications filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a). Thus, the rule cannot be circumvented by utilizing the PCT route. The fact that more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims may have been searched and even subjected to international preliminary examination in the international phase will not entitle applicants to more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in the U.S. national phase application without the submission of an examination support document. This is analogous to existing practice under Sec. 1.499, which permits restriction of claims in a national stage application for lack of unity notwithstanding that such claims may have been searched and subject to international preliminary examination in the international phase. Applying Sec. 1.75(b) to national stage applications is appropriate because prior art uncovered during the international search often necessitates the need to make substantial amendments to the claims in the national phase. Additionally, the claims would need to be examined for compliance with all substantive requirements of U.S. national law. Comment 23: One comment suggested that the rules limiting continuing applications would result in more applicants filing international applications and entering the U.S. national stage in order to avoid onerous restriction requirements. Another comment suggested that the rules limiting the examination of claims might trigger increased usage of the PCT and national stage entry into the U.S. Response: Applicants are free to choose whichever route they believe is more advantageous for obtaining patent protection in the United States, whether through the PCT or through a direct national filing under 35 U.S.C. 111(a). Comment 24: A number of comments requested that the Office should notify the applicant in an Office action when a continuing application is not available under any one of the first three conditions in Sec. 1.78(d)(1). A number of [[Page 46752]] comments stated that the refusal to enter or to delete any references to prior-filed applications that are not permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1) would place a heavy burden on the Office. Response: The changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 in this final rule are clearly set forth in this final rule. Applicant and his or her representative have the duty to know the rules of practice when prosecuting an application for patent before the Office. Applicant should not file a continuing application without knowing whether it is proper. The refusal to enter or to delete any references to prior-filed applications that are not permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1) would not place any additional burden on the Office. Comment 25: A number of comments argued that the rule changes would protract the examination process and divert resources from examining functions to administrative tasks. In particular, the comments predicted that the rule changes would increase the number of petitions, including petitions for filing additional continuing applications and requests for continued examination and petitions for supervisory review of Office actions and restriction requirements. Several other comments argued that the delay in prosecution of an application would increase while decisions on petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) were debated and reviewed. Several comments questioned whether the Office would be adequately staffed with enough personnel to handle the onslaught of petitions, as well as further review of decisions dismissing the petitions. Several comments also argued that any reduction in backlog would be insignificant given that the Office would grant some of the petitions for additional continuing applications and requests for continued examination. Several comments suggested that the proposed changes to the continued examination practice will force applicants to petition every improper procedural requirement by examiners, including restriction requirements, finality and non-entry of after-final amendments, in order to preserve applicant's rights. One comment stated that applicants are likely to file petitions, such as petitions addressing the prematureness of a final rejection under Sec. 1.181, to save their one ``as-matter-of-right'' continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination. Several comments stated that applicants would petition almost all restriction requirements, resulting in an increase in the number of petitions filed. Another comment stated petitions seeking review of restriction requirements would be filed in order to determine early in the prosecution cycle the number of divisional applications that must be filed to preserve patent rights. Response: One of the Office's goals is to focus its limited patent examining resources on the examination of new applications, and thereby increase the effectiveness of Office resources while also reducing the backlog of unexamined patent applications. The requirements for seeking third and subsequent continuing applications will not have an effect on the vast majority of patent applications. The changes being adopted in this final rule, however, will reduce the strain on the Office's patent examining resources, which will allow for a better, more timely examination of new applications. The Office recognizes the amount and type of resources needed to implement the changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 being adopted in this final rule. The authority to decide petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) has been delegated to the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy (who may further delegate this authority to officials under the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy). The Office is planning to provide sufficient staff to handle the projected number of petitions. The Office provides the procedure under Sec. 1.181 for applicants to seek review of requirements and objections made by the examiner. If applicant finds that a requirement or an objection made in an Office action is procedurally wrong, applicant should request reconsideration or file a petition under Sec. 1.181 to review the requirement or objection. As an example, when applicant challenges the finality of an Office action as being premature, the applicant should focus on whether the Office action met the appropriate standard for finality. The Office will make every effort to decide the petitions in a timely manner. Applicant, however, should not file a continuing application or a request for continued examination in an effort to address improper procedural requirements. Petitions for supervisory review of Office actions and restriction requirements will continue to be decided by supervisory patent examiners or other managers. Therefore, examiners will not be diverted from the examination process by these petitions. Finally, it should be noted that complaints about an Office action that relate to the merits of patentability of the claims must be addressed in an appeal to the BPAI, and not in a petition under Sec. 1.181 for supervisory review, even if the issues may be phrased in procedural terms. See Boundy v. U.S. Pat. & Trademark Office, 73 U.S.P.Q. 2d 1468, 1472 (E.D. Va. 2004). Comment 26: Several comments stated that any resources saved via implementation of these final rules would be used for other filings necessitated by the changes. Thus the rule changes, according to the comments, would increase the backlog and pendency and add to the administrative cost and burdens of the Office. In particular, a number of comments predicted that the number of applications would increase because applicants would file more of the following: (1) Provisional applications; (2) continuation applications rather than requests for continued examination; (3) reissue applications to perfect or broaden claims; (4) reexamination proceedings to have prior art considered; (5) divisional applications (because applicants are required to file all divisional applications during the pendency of the first application); (6) multiple parallel applications that have similar or the same disclosures; and (7) continuing applications before the effective date. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment and has attempted to avoid the possibility of increased filings necessitated by modifying the proposed changes. The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Also, under this final rule, a divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Therefore, the Office does not expect any significant increase in filings of applications. Specifically, the Office does not expect that the number of divisional applications would increase in response to the changes being adopted in this final rule because applicants should have sufficient time to determine whether to file a divisional application for a non-elected invention following a restriction requirement. Furthermore, an increase in filings of provisional applications will not place additional burden on the Office's patent [[Page 46753]] examining resources because no examination is provided in provisional applications. The Office does not expect its examining resources to be impacted when applicants file continuation applications rather than requests for continued examination, or when applicants file reissue applications and reexamination proceedings rather than continuing applications. The changes being adopted in this final rule do not encourage applicants to file multiple applications with patentably indistinct claims. Pursuant to Sec. 1.78(f)(3), the Office may require elimination of the patentably indistinct claims from all but one of the nonprovisional applications. If the patentably indistinct claims are not eliminated from all but one of the applications, the Office will treat each application as having the total of all of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) for purposes of determining whether an examination support document is required by Sec. 1.75(b). See Sec. 1.75(b)(4). Moreover, when an applicant (or assignee) files multiple applications with the same claimed filing or priority date, a common inventor, and substantial overlapping disclosures, the Office will presume that the applications contain patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. 1.78(f)(2). The applicant must either rebut this presumption or submit the appropriate terminal disclaimers and explain why two or more pending applications containing patentably indistinct claims should be maintained. Once applicant recognizes that having multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims is not needed, applicant would abandon the applications or stop filing multiple applications that have patentably indistinct claims. Comment 27: One comment stated that a requirement for Director's approval to file a second or subsequent continuing application or request for continued examination would create a disincentive for examiners to provide a thorough examination, leaving the burden on the applicant to prosecute the application. Response: The Office modified the proposed provision that would have limited applicant to one continuation or continuation-in-part application or to one request for continued examination, without any justification. This final rule allows applicant to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus a request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. What is more, the Office expects that limiting the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination that may be filed without justification will encourage both applicants and examiners to engage in a more thorough prosecution and examination earlier in the application process. Examiners are professionals who perform their duties in compliance with patent laws, rules of practice, and patent examining procedures set forth in the MPEP. They are responsible for the quality of their work product. There is no reason why examiners would provide lower quality examination in response to the changes in this final rule. In fact, this final rule is intended to improve the quality of examination by facilitating the examination of applications that contain more than five independent claims or twenty-five total claims via the examination support document. Comment 28: A number of comments stated that the Office should treat continuing applications the same as new applications and should not limit the available protection because applicants who file continuing applications pay the same filing fees as those who file a new application. One comment argued that continuing applications should not be limited because they claim ``new inventions'' in that they pursue broader claims, a different invention, or an improvement, and the purpose of patents is to protect inventions, not to facilitate examination. One comment argued that continuation and continuation-in- part applications are legitimate because the statutes that create and authorize ``continuation practice'' do not distinguish such applications from ``new'' applications in terms of their importance, nor do they limit the resources that are committed to them. Response: The former unrestricted continued examination practice was impairing the Office's ability to examine new applications. As a result, the Office is modifying continued examination practice in this final rule to address the backlog of unexamined new applications. Under this final rule, therefore, if the amendments, arguments, or evidence sought to be entered could have been previously submitted in the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination, applicants are encouraged to make such submissions early rather than wait to do so in another continuing application or request for continued examination. That way, the examiner would have the information earlier to make the patentability determination. If applicant could not have submitted them earlier, applicant may file a third continuing application with a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or a second request for continued examination with a petition and showing under Sec. 1.114(g). Comment 29: A number of comments stated that the rule changes would not permit applicants to file even a single continuation or continuation-in-part application, when the applicant filed a request for continued examination in the initial application. Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Applicant may also file any additional continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. The filing of a request for continued examination in the initial application does not preclude applicant from filing a continuing application of the initial application. Comment 30: Several comments objected to the Office's proposal that a petition under Sec. 1.78 to accept an unintentionally delayed claim under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) will not be granted in an application in which a request for continued examination has been filed. One comment argued that applicant would lose substantial rights if the Office dismisses a petition to accept an unintentionally delayed claim filed after a request for continued examination has been filed in the prior-filed application. Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 such that the provisions of Sec. 1.78(d) as adopted in this final rule are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. Thus, Sec. 1.78(e) as adopted in this final rule does not provide that a petition to accept an unintentionally delayed claim under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) will not be granted in an application in which a request for continued examination has been filed. Comment 31: A number of comments stated that the rule changes would not permit applicants to consolidate two applications into a single continuation-in-part application, which is contrary to the goal of reducing the number of applications. [[Page 46754]] Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed changes such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Therefore, applicant is permitted to file a continuation-in-part application that claims the benefit of two prior- filed applications without a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). If applicant thinks that a third or subsequent continuation-in-part application is necessary for consolidation purposes, then such applicant may file a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) to obtain the additional filing. Comment 32: Several comments argued that applicants need continuing applications and requests for continued examination because the reissue procedure does not give applicants the same flexibility. Response: Continuing applications and requests for continued examination are not, by statute, available for the same purposes as reissue applications. Continuing applications and requests for continued examination are available to an applicant during the prosecution of an initial application to enable an applicant to secure protection on the full scope of an invention with the correct benefit claim. See 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, and 365(c). By contrast, the reissue procedure is available to an applicant after a patent has issued to permit an applicant to correct errors made during the prosecution of the original application without any deceptive intention and to enlarge the scope of the claims of the original patent if the reissue application is filed within two years from the grant of the original patent. See 35 U.S.C. 252. Furthermore, this final rule permits applicant to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. These available filings provide sufficient flexibility. Comment 33: One comment suggested that the rule changes would be contrary to patent harmonization goals. One comment argued that the rule changes would hurt foreign applicants because they would be required to assess the degree of protection much earlier than they normally would, resulting in retaliatory challenges abroad for U.S. applicants. Response: The Office did not receive any comments from any foreign patent office or authority. The Office does not expect any retaliation from other countries or any adverse impact. Many countries do not have flexible practices for filing continuation applications, continuation- in-part applications, and requests for continued examination. Comment 34: A number of comments argued that the rule changes would increase the cost to applicants for prosecuting each application, and for filing more multiple parallel applications, divisional applications, appeals, and petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114. Several comments argued that the rule changes would cause applicants to incur excessive expenses before determining whether the invention is commercially viable. One comment argued that the Office would cause applicants to perform patent searches in order to have a good working knowledge of the prior art to draft claims for full coverage. One comment argued that the rule changes would increase practitioner fees because applicants must submit more carefully drafted claims and replies (estimated five additional hours per case for drafting all possible claims, at an average of 150 dollars per hour, the additional cost would be 750 dollars per application or 200 million dollars for 317,000 applications). One comment estimated that the attorney cost in preparing an application would at least double if not increase by a factor of ten, which would place new applications out of reach of small businesses. Several comments argued that it would be practically impossible or at least much more difficult, expensive and time- consuming to obtain patent protection for the full scope of inventions, especially for large, complex inventions. One comment argued that the rule changes are extremely burdensome for patent applicants and practitioners to maintain and develop a cohesive patent strategy. One comment stated that the rule changes were very complex and fraught with ambiguity and would create difficulties and misunderstandings for applicants and practitioners in the implementation, possibly resulting in the loss of inventors' rights and an increase in practitioners' exposure to malpractice. Response: The Office encourages applicants to diligently prosecute the initial application, two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and one request for continued examination, without a petition and showing, so that applicants do not need to file a petition and showing to secure a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination and incur the costs associated with these filings. The patent system best serves the interests of all parties, including the public, when applicants and their representatives are diligent in drafting the claims and replies. Applicant would get a quality patent with desirable claim coverage. The Office would not waste patent examining resources to examine applications that are not diligently prepared. Even prior to the changes being adopted in this final rule, applicants and their representatives had certain duties when prosecuting applications in front of the Office. Applicant is required to submit fully responsive replies to Office actions (see Sec. 1.111) and to particularly point out and distinctly claim what the applicant regards as his or her invention (see 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 2). Furthermore, if applicant's lack of knowledge of the prior art (or lack of diligence) causes unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office, applicant would be violating Sec. 10.18(b)(2)(i). If applicants need more time to determine the aspect of the invention for which patent protection should be sought, applicant may file a request for deferred examination under Sec. 1.103(d) upon filing the initial application. Applicant should have sufficient time to determine whether to file a divisional application for a non-elected invention because a divisional application is not required under this final rule to be filed during the pendency of the initial application, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. If applicant disagrees with the examiner's rejections, it would be more effective to appeal the rejections than to file a continuing application or a request for continued examination. It should not be burdensome for applicants and their representatives to prosecute diligently by drafting claims that particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the applicant regards as his or her invention, as well as replies that are fully responsive to the Office actions. The requirements for seeking third and subsequent continuing applications in this final rule will not have an effect on the vast majority of patent applicants. Approximately 342,600 nonprovisional patent applications (excluding plant and design applications) were filed in the Office in fiscal year 2006. Of those applications, approximately 32,700 were identified as continuation applications, approximately 15,700 were identified as continuation-in-part applications, and approximately 20,600 were identified as divisional applications. In addition, approximately 74,700 requests for [[Page 46755]] continued examination were filed in the Office in fiscal year 2006. The requirements for seeking a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination would only have affected 2.7 percent of these filings (applications or requests for continued examination). As discussed previously, the changes being adopted in this final rule do not give any advantage to those applicants who file multiple parallel applications containing patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and 1.78(f). Comment 35: One comment argued that the rule changes would encourage the courts to have a more liberal view on the doctrine of equivalents. Another comment argued that the rule changes limiting continuation practice takes away the right of the patentee to use continuing applications to secure patent protection for equivalents of the invention claimed in the prior-filed application, citing Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 344 F.3d 1359, 68 U.S.P.Q.2d 1321 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (Festo X). Response: The doctrine of equivalents is a patent law concept relating to infringement which protects patentees against efforts of copyists to evade liability for infringement by making only insubstantial changes to a patented invention. See Festo Corp. v. Shoketsu Kinzodu Kogyo Kabushiki Co., 535 U.S. 722, 726-27, 62 U.S.P.Q.2d 1705, 1709 (2002) (Festo VIII). The case law on the doctrine of equivalents has been well established since Warner-Jenkinson Co. v. Hilton Davis Chem. Co., 520 U.S. 17, 41 U.S.P.Q.2d 1865 (1997) and Festo VIII. A concurrence in Festo X noted that the demise of the flexible doctrine of equivalents ``rule'' may encourage applicants to (inter alia) use continuation strategies to avoid the lack of flexibility that now exists in the doctrine of equivalents. See Festo X, 344 F.3d at 1375, 68 U.S.P.Q.2d 1332. This concurrence in Festo X, however, was not espousing some ``right'' of the patentee to use continuing applications to maintain the doctrine of equivalents, but was simply noting that applicants now use continuing application practice as a substitute for a flexible doctrine of equivalents. The Office is concerned that practitioners and applicants may indeed be increasingly using continuing applications not to advance prosecution but to compensate for changes in the law of the doctrine of equivalents. Such practices would appear to be likely to contravene Sec. 10.18(b)(2)(i), under which a party presenting a paper to the Office is certifying that the paper is not being presented to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office. Under Festo X, a narrowing amendment gives rise to a presumption that equivalents not covered by the literal language of the claims have been foregone. Permitting two continuing applications plus a request for continued examination in any one of the initial application or two continuing applications as of right should in general assure that applicants have an adequate chance to advocate to the examiners that an amendment is unneeded. Beyond that, the Office is concerned that applications may be continued, rather than disputes on the need for amendment being appealed, for the purpose of delay. A requirement that an applicant at that stage be prepared to justify his or her need for an additional continuing application is reasonable in these circumstances. Comment 36: A number of comments suggested that the rule changes are arbitrary and capricious, premature, imprudent and ill-advised. A number of comments argued that the Office has no rational basis for the rule change, and has not provided sufficient explanations, data or evidence to justify the rule changes and to show that the rule changes will actually improve the backlog of applications, the quality of examinations, overall examination efficiency, quality of patents, and pendency. In addition, the comments asserted patents would be harder to enforce and litigate because all relevant prior art may not have been considered. One comment stated that the Office does not have a pendency problem because the average pendency is within zero to three years. One comment argued that the Office provides no studies to show that businesses are being harmed due to delayed prosecution. One comment argued that reducing the backlog is not an appropriate reason for limiting the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination as a matter of right. Several comments argued that the Office has not identified continuation applications as a major source of the backlog, and therefore, the rule changes would have limited impact on the backlog. One comment pointed out that second and subsequent continued examination filings make up only a small percentage of the total number of continued examination filings. Several comments alleged that the Office's statistics are misleading and the rule changes would only eliminate at most five to ten percent of the continuation applications because the Office should not have included ``involuntary'' divisional applications and requests for continued examination. One comment argued that the Office provided no statistical data showing the percentage of applicants that ``misuse'' the continued examination practice as alleged. One comment also suggested that although the Continuing Applications Proposed Rule cites to data regarding the total number of continuations and the consequential burdens imposed on examiners, no analysis is provided as to the grounds for filing these applications and whether those grounds constituted ``abuse.'' Several comments argued that there is no indication that the Office has conducted any serious analysis of how or why requests for continued examination and continuation applications are used by applicants. The comments suggested the following: A suitable analysis would involve review of prosecution histories of patents that were issued from a continuation application or a request for continued examination and determination of whether such patents could have issued if the rule changes were in place; and if such patents would not have issued, the Office should explain how such a loss of rights is consistent with the goals of the patent system. A number of comments asserted that the rule changes should be narrowly tailored to only those few applicants who intentionally delay the conclusion of examination rather than adversely impacting all applicants. A number of comments suggested that the Office should conduct a pilot program on the changes and report the results to the public prior to implementing the rule changes. Several comments further argued that the Office has not identified any study showing that restricting applicants to a single continued examination opportunity would satisfactorily address its problems without causing substantial harm to the protection of innovation or the patent examining process. Several comments alleged that the Office has not sufficiently considered the effect of the rule changes on U.S. applicants and the U.S. economy and suggested that further study is needed because the ability to file multiple continuing applications helps U.S. applicants to protect their inventions against foreign competitors and the rule changes would cause further outsourcing of American manufacturing and loss of American jobs. Several comments, however, supported the rule changes. The comments provided the following reasons why the rule changes would be appropriate: (1) They would improve [[Page 46756]] the Office's productivity, enhance patent quality, and eliminate growing abuses in the patent prosecution process, which would accelerate innovation, especially in the software and hardware technologies that have fast technology evolution and short product life cycle; (2) the rule changes would help the Office reduce backlog and pendency because they would reduce the ancillary loads on the examination process so that examiners can focus on important core issues, and the Office could focus its limited examining resources on faster examination of new applications; (3) the rule changes appropriately address those few applicants who disproportionately contribute to the backlog and provide applicants with the ability to file appropriate continued examination filings and multiple opportunities to present claims and arguments; (4) applicant may correct appropriate mistakes (including by broadening claims) through the reissue process; (5) by eliminating long chains of continued examination filings, the rule changes would provide earlier and greater legal certainty as to the scope of patent rights, reduce wasteful litigation, and encourage negotiations between patent holders and others; (6) the rule changes would likely promote confidence in U.S. patents, stimulate innovation, enhance competition, and increase consumer welfare; and (7) the rule changes would help to deter applicants from strategically using the continued examination practice to disadvantage competitors and their licensees, and would prevent applicants from keeping continuation applications pending for extended periods of time so that they can monitor the development of the market and modify their claims to cover their competitors' products. Response: In fiscal year 2006, the average pendency to first Office action was 22.6 months for the entire Patent Examining Corps. The average was much higher in certain areas (e.g., in Technology Center 2100 (computer architecture, software and information security) the average pendency to first Office action was 30.8 months, and in Technology Centers 3620 and 3690 (electronic commerce) the average pendency to first Office action was 43.9 months). As several comments noted, long pendency of patent applications is problematic in some industries (e.g., computer software and hardware technologies) where product life cycles are short and new improvements can quickly make the technology obsolete. The Office has the authority and responsibility to establish regulations that shall govern the conduct of proceedings in the Office and facilitate and expedite the processing of patent applications. See 35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2). The Office has the responsibility to take appropriate action to improve efficiency, patent quality and pendency. The Office does not expect that the changes being adopted in this final rule alone will be sufficient to address the growing backlog of unexamined patent applications. The Office is implementing many initiatives to improve efficiency in the examination process and quality of patents. Continued examination filings divert the Office's limited examining resources from the examination of new applications. One of the Office's goals is to focus the limited examining resources on the examination of new applications. The rules do not place an absolute limit on the number of continued examination filings. The Office recognizes there are appropriate reasons for applicant to file a continuing application or request for continued examination. Under this final rule, applicant is permitted to file the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Thus, applicant has sufficient opportunities to present claims, amendments, arguments, evidence, and prior art during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination. An applicant who considers this to be insufficient may file a third or subsequent continuing application or second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. If the amendment, argument, or evidence can be submitted earlier in the prosecution process, applicant is required to do so, rather than delay the prosecution and waste the Office's patent examining resources on a prosecution that is not focused. The examination process is more efficient when the applicant diligently prosecutes the application so that the examiner has all of the relevant information, including amendments, evidence, arguments, and prior art as early as possible. Most applicants who prosecute diligently will not need to file a third or subsequent continuing application. Reviewing the prosecution histories of patents, conducting pilot programs, publishing green papers, etc., would not show all of the reasons why applicants would file multiple continued examination filings. Applicants could have different reasons for filing continuation applications, continuation-in-part applications and requests for continued examination. The rules appropriately provide applicant the opportunity to show why a third or subsequent continuing application or second or subsequent request for continued examination is needed. The comments do not provide any persuasive data or evidence that shows how the rule changes, or any restrictions on the continued examination filing practice, would have a negative impact on the quality of patents, the U.S. economy, or innovation. As discussed previously, approximately 342,600 nonprovisional patent applications (excluding plant and design applications) and approximately 74,700 requests for continued examination were filed in the Office in fiscal year 2006. The requirements for seeking a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination would only have affected 2.7 percent of these filings (applications or requests for continued examination). The Office did not include divisional applications in this analysis. The Office included requests for continued examination because when an applicant files a request for continued examination, the examiner reopens the prosecution of the application and conducts another substantive examination similar to a continuation application. Comment 37: Several comments argued that the amount of resources spent on additional continuing applications or requests for continued examination is not as high as asserted because continuation applications and requests for continued examination take less of the examiner's time than new applications since the examiner is already familiar with the prior art, issues, and subject matter of the application. Response: The Office expects that limiting the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination that may be filed without justification will encourage both applicants and examiners to focus on ``getting it right the first time.'' In any event, examiners are given the same amount of time to examine a continuing application or request for continued examination as a new application. Certain continuing applications and requests for continued examination could have more complex issues than a new application, such as evaluating new evidence in a biotechnology application. [[Page 46757]] Any reduction in the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination would increase the Office's ability to focus its patent examining resources on the examination of new applications. Comment 38: Several comments asserted that the premise that expedited examination is more important than protection of inventor's rights is faulty. Response: The Office did not state such a premise. Applicants may seek full protection of their inventions under this final rule, which does not place any absolute limits on the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination. Limiting the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination that may be submitted without justification is not counter to the protection of an inventor's rights. Comment 39: Several comments predicted that the rule changes would decrease the Office's revenue due to the decrease in continuing applications and requests for continued examination. Response: The Office's goal is to utilize its patent examining resources more efficiently to reduce backlog and improve pendency. In exchange for greater efficiency, the Office expects there would be some decrease in revenue as the number of continued examination filings declines, as the comment indicates. But, this final rule is not being implemented with a view toward revenue; instead, it is being implemented to improve the patent examination process. Comment 40: A number of comments argued that there is no public notice problem. The comments argued that most applications (ninety percent) are published, the prosecution of the published applications is open to the public, and competitors are already able to analyze a file history to determine the broadest range of claim protection that may be granted in a patent of a continuing application. Several comments suggested that members of the public could prevent infringement by identifying the novel inventions in the disclosure and avoiding those inventions in their practices. Several comments, however, noted that publication of applications is not sufficient to provide public notice of what the patentee will ultimately claim because a patent may eventually issue with broader or significantly different claims than those published and any delays at the Office will perpetuate uncertainty as to the scope of the eventual patent. Response: The Office agrees that the publication of an application is not sufficient notice of the scope of protection afforded by an eventual patent because the claims have not been determined to be patentable at the time of publication. Asking the public to determine the broadest range of claim protection and to prevent infringement based on the publication of an application would defeat the purposes of patent examination and 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 2. The patent claims provide the public with notice of the patent protection, not the disclosure of an application. Comment 41: A number of comments stated that the current patent law already contains its own solution to the problem of long chains of continuing applications. The comments argued that filing and maintenance fees and the twenty-year patent term provision discourage applicants from filing continuing applications. Several comments argued that the Office is acting prematurely because the recent changes (e.g., the Office electronic filing system, the increase in hiring and fees, court decisions on doctrine of equivalents, the twenty-year patent term provisions, and publication of applications) should be sufficient to reduce the backlog and improve public notice. A number of comments alleged that the doctrine of prosecution laches is sufficient to address abuses. One comment argued that the Office should not be concerned with enforcement issues and the problem with public notice should not be a reason for the rule changes. Several comments argued that the Office's concern over public notice is misplaced because the notice function of claims is limited to published or patented claims and it does not extend to any future claims that might arise. Several comments, however, noted that even with the twenty-year patent term provisions, unrestricted continued examination practice still gives applicants incentives to keep continuing applications pending after the issuance of a patent so that the applicants can monitor the industry development and capture other companies' products by changing the scope of the claims in the continuing applications. Response: The percentage of continued examination filings did not decrease after the implementation of the twenty-year patent term provision of the Uruguay Round Agreement Act (Pub. L. 103-465, 108 Stat. 4809 (1994)). Thus, the twenty-year patent term provisions do not discourage applicants from filing continued examination filings. As discussed previously, this final rule is not intended to address extreme cases of prosecution laches or to codify Bogese II. Examiners already have the authority (with a Technology Center Director's approval) to make a rejection on the grounds of prosecution history laches. See MPEP section 2190. Some of the reasons cited by the comments as to why an indefinite number of continuing applications is needed suggest that continuing applications may be used for purposes of delay more commonly than could be effectively addressed by the Office's application of its equitable prosecution history laches authority. Moreover, even where strategies of delay are not deliberately pursued, the lack of reasonable requirements on the use of continued examination practice may act as a disincentive to the examiner and applicant taking the most effective steps to reach conclusion. The Office did not place a per se limit on the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination. The rules require applicant to show why a third or subsequent continuing application or second or subsequent request for continued examination is necessary to advance prosecution. The Office recognizes both the adverse effects of unrestricted continued examination practice, and the appropriate uses of continued examination filings. The Office has sought to draw a reasonable balance in order not to discourage appropriate uses of continued examination filings while providing a regulatory setting in which unnecessary prolongation of proceedings can be avoided. The changes being adopted in this final rule are appropriately tailored to permit applicants to file the initial application, two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and a request for continued examination in any one of these three applications without any justification. An applicant who considers this to be insufficient may file any additional continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier. The changes in this final rule will also permit the Office to focus its limited resources on examination of new applications in order to reduce the backlog of unexamined applications. Comment 42: One comment argued that the Office's assertion that multiple patents tend to defeat the public notice function of patent claims does not justify the rule changes because the restriction practice tends to increase the number of patents. One comment argued that the Office is making unsupported assumptions that: (1) The possible issuance of multiple patents [[Page 46758]] arising from continuing applications tends to defeat the public notice function of patent claims; and (2) the public is left uncertain as to what a set of patents resulting from the initial application will cover when multiple applications with patentably indistinct claims are filed. Response: Restriction practice encourages applicant to file a single application for each patentably distinct invention. The public notice function of patent claims is undermined, however, when multiple patents together claim only one patentable invention (i.e., the patents contain patentably indistinct claims). In such case, applicant should file a single application claiming one patentable invention rather than multiple applications claiming the same patentable invention. The Office is not making unsupported assumptions that the possible issuance of multiple patents arising from continuing applications tends to defeat the public notice function of patent claims, and that the public is left uncertain as to what a set of patents resulting from the initial application will cover when multiple applications with patentably indistinct claims are filed. See, e.g., To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Intellectual Property Law and Policy, Ch. 4 at 26-31 (Federal Trade Commission 2003); Lemley and Moore, Ending Abuse of Patent Continuations, 84 B.U. L. Rev. at 100 (eliminating continuing application practice would be consistent with the policy goal of giving adequate notice about what is and is not covered by a patent). Comment 43: Several comments predicted that the rule changes would discourage public disclosure of technology, thereby hurting industrial growth and innovation. Several comments argued that by limiting an applicant's ability to claim everything that is disclosed in the application, the rule changes would cause the applicant to submit more narrow disclosures to avoid inadvertent dedication of the subject matter to the public (citing Johnson & Johnston Associates, Inc. v. R.E. Service Co., 304 F.2d 1235, 62 U.S.P.Q.2d 1225 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (en banc)). Several comments noted that the rule changes would force applicants to delay filing until all foreseeable information has been obtained or forego continuation-in-part filings that contain additional information. Several comments stated that small entities that have limited resources would not disclose alternative embodiments or would file applications with narrow disclosures to avoid restriction requirements. Several comments averred that inventors would delay the filing of applications until after clinical or market testing is concluded, a potentially commercially viable product is identified, or other refining of the invention is completed. The comments also predicted that some inventors would keep the invention secret from the public and/or limit the scope of the disclosure to avoid dedicating potentially commercial embodiments to the public. One comment argued that the Office is making an unsupported assumption that continuing applications and multiple applications containing patentably indistinct claims impose a burden on innovation. One comment argued that applicants would file multiple applications having divergent subject matter rather than a single application and applicants would omit certain concepts from the applications. One comment stated that the prior art complications caused by the inability to claim priority of an earlier filed application through intermediate applications would severely curb disclosure because applicants would avoid creating their own prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(b) on a possible important commercial embodiment. One comment stated that the current continued examination practice encourages early disclosure of multiple embodiments of inventions developed through the iterative design process. One comment stated that large applications that disclose everything are good and advance the Office's mission. One comment argued that the proposed rule changes to the examination of claims will force applicants to file applications that incorporate secondary features into their own separately filed application. One comment argued that the new rules would result in omnibus filings on anything and everything. Response: The Office has made modifications to the proposed rules concerning both continuing applications and examination of claims practices. First, this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Second, this final rule permits applicants to present more than five independent claims or more than twenty-five total claims in an application if applicant files an examination support document before the first Office action on the merits of the application. Taken together, the changes to continuing application and examination of claims practices adopted in this final rule permit applicant to file as many claims as desired in one application and give applicant sufficient opportunity to seek appropriate protection for the disclosed invention. Accordingly, the changes being adopted in this final rule do not place a per se limit on the number of claims presented in an application, nor do they place a per se limit on the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination available in an application family. The changes being adopted in this final rule likewise do not give any advantage to those applicants who file multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims because such applicants would be required to identify the multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. Sec. 1.75(b) and 1.78(f). The changes adopted in this final rule will not discourage applicants from filing patent applications because the substantive criteria for entitlement to a patent and the basic incentives for a patent (exclusive rights) have not changed. Whether applicants file narrow or broad disclosures, the changes in this final rule will reduce uncertainty with respect to what the applicant is claiming as the invention. The Office also does not expect applicants to delay the filing of an application because any commercial activities and public disclosures that occurred more than one year prior to the filing of an application would still be considered prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(b). The changes being adopted in this final rule simply require applicants to prosecute their applications diligently and submit amendments, argument, and evidence early in the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications and a request for continued examination. As previously discussed, applicant has sufficient time to determine whether to file a divisional application. If applicant needs more time to determine which aspect of the invention to seek protection for, applicant may file a request for deferral of examination under Sec. 1.103(d). Comment 44: Several comments alleged that the rule changes would have a significant adverse impact on applicants if the first-to-file system is adopted because applicants would need to file more continuing applications to protect their inventions because applicants would need to file as soon as possible with broadly conceptualized disclosures and subsequently file continuing applications (e.g., continuation-in-part applications) on the improvement or detailed embodiments. Response: The United States currently does not have a ``first inventor-to-file'' [[Page 46759]] standard. Other countries that have a ``first inventor-to-file'' standard have less flexible continued examination practice than the United States. For example, the Japan Patent Office does not permit continuation-in-part applications. Under the JPO practice, applicant may only submit an application on an improvement as a new application. The Office will continue to consider the issues related to the ``first- to-invent'' standard and the ``first inventor-to-file'' standard in determining the rights to a patent in the context of international harmonization efforts. Comment 45: A number of comments argued that the rule changes would disproportionately impact small entities including universities, start- up companies, biotechnology companies, and public health industry because they are more likely to file continuing applications and requests for continued examination and have less resources. The comments provided the following reasons: (1) The proposed rule would require significant expenses early in the prosecution of the application that would cause small entities and independent inventors economic hardship; (2) the rule changes would encourage large companies that have more financial resources to ``steal'' inventions from the small entities because the increased cost of obtaining patent protection would prevent small entities from obtaining full protection of their inventions and cause many small entities not to seek patent protection; (3) small entities need the flexibility to respond to changing conditions by refining claims and they cannot afford up-front parallel filings as large companies can; (4) independent inventors and small entities need the ability to file multiple continued examination filings to spread the costs; (5) the rule changes could stifle the building of patent portfolios for small companies and cause a reduction of capital investment in these companies and in new technologies; (6) applicants should be permitted to get a patent on the allowed claims and then continue to prosecute the broader or rejected claims or to claim subject matter not previously claimed in a continuing application, in order to bring technologies to the market sooner, which would permit small entities to attract investors and obtain financing for further product development and patent prosecutions; (7) continued examination filings are more likely needed in complex fields like biotechnology because examiners are less likely to comprehend the invention fully in the limited time allotted for the initial search and examination and more likely to make restriction requirements, and applicants need additional opportunities to address technical issues arising during prosecution and submit evidence and clinical testing data; (8) companies in the life sciences need continued examination filings to obtain multiple patents that protect innovations and improvements that arise over the long time period of research and development, clinical testing, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process; (9) in biotechnology, applicants may not know at the time of filing which embodiments of the invention have commercial value or how a competitor may attempt to copy the invention or circumvent the patent. One comment that supports the rule changes noted that large entities also operate within limited filing budgets, and the effects of the rules will apply across the board because any applicant must decide what level of filing activity it can reasonably afford, and make filing decisions accordingly. The comment further stated that small entities already receive a fifty percent discount on fees and can take advantage of inexpensive provisional applications to delay paying filing fees. Several comments argued that the rule changes will disproportionately impact small entities and that the Office obscures this fact by including requests for continued examination into the analysis. The comments stated that: 32 percent of patents to the top nineteen universities are continuation or continuation-in-part applications; 35.2 percent of first continuations and continuation-in- part applications are filed by small entities; and 37.9 percent of second continuations and continuation-in-part applications are filed by small entities. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment particularly by small entities regarding the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 that would have permitted an applicant to file only one of the following: A continuation application, a continuation-in-part application, or a request for continued examination, without any justification. The Office has made modifications to these proposed changes such that this final rule will permit an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Under this final rule, an applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention if the prior-filed application is subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continuation examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Applicant may also file any third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application, or any second or subsequent request for continued examination in an application family, with a petition and showing. Therefore, applicants should have sufficient time to determine whether to seek protection for a particular aspect of an invention and should have sufficient opportunities to present claims, amendments and evidence for that aspect. For example, applicant is permitted to obtain a patent on the allowed claims from the initial application, and then continue to prosecute the broader or rejected claims in two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and one request for continued examination without justification. Beyond those filings, applicant may seek a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application and a second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and showing. As previously discussed, the changes being adopted in this final rule do not give any advantage to those applicants who file multiple parallel applications containing patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and 1.78(f). Applicant should also have sufficient opportunities to spread the cost of prosecution. Applicant has a one-year grace period under 35 U.S.C. 102(b) before filing a patent application to test the market or obtain capital resources. Before the end of the one-year grace period, applicant may file a provisional application to obtain a U.S. filing date and wait up to twelve additional months to file an initial nonprovisional application. During this two-year time period, applicants may determine the commercial value of each aspect of the invention before filing the initial nonprovisional application. Applicant may also request a deferral of examination under Sec. 1.103(d) and defer the examination up to three years from the earliest filing date claimed (e.g., the filing date of the provisional application). See Sec. 1.103(d). By [[Page 46760]] requesting a deferral of examination, applicant would have even more time to determine the commercial value of the invention or obtain capital resources and would avoid the cost of filing and prosecuting multiple continued examination filings. Furthermore, divisional applications need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. The changes being adopted in this final rule do not disproportionately impact small entities. The Office estimates that the change would have required such a petition and showing in only 2.9 percent of the 112,210 small entity applications and requests for continued examination filed in fiscal year 2006. The Office included the number of requests for continued examination into the analysis because requests for continued examination divert the Office's patent examining resources from the examination of new applications and contribute to the increasing backlog of unexamined applications, just like continuation and continuation-in-part applications. The Office notes that, during fiscal year 2006, it appears that the percentage of small entity continued examination filings that would have required a petition is slightly higher than the percentage of total continued examination filings that would have required a petition (2.9 percent small entity as opposed to 2.7 percent for all applicants). The Office also notes that, during fiscal year 2006, it appears that the percentage of small entity applications that exceeded the five independent claims and twenty-five total claim threshold is also slightly higher than the percentage of total applications that exceeded the five independent claim and twenty-five total claim threshold (24.4 as opposed to 23.7). These percentages are based upon data that is available in the Office's PALM system for applications filed during the most recent fiscal year. The Office does not think these slight differences establish that the changes in this final rule will have a disproportionate economic impact on small entities since these differences are within the margin of error. In addition, the comments provide no reason, and there is no apparent one for why small entity applicants would inherently require more continued examination filings to prosecute the applications to completion or more claims to adequately cover their inventions. Thus, even higher differences in these percentages could easily be explained by the fact that small entity applicants pay only one-half of the fees that other applicants pay for continuing applications, requests for continued examination, and excess claims. Comment 46: A number of comments predicted the rule changes would limit applicants' opportunities to present claims, which would reduce the scope of the patent claims because applicants would be pressured to pursue and accept narrower claims. The comments argued that inventors would not be able to adequately protect their inventions and would in turn lose patent protection to certain aspects of their inventions, which would have an adverse impact on the value of patents, patent quality, innovations, research and development, the competitiveness of U.S. companies, and the U.S. economy and would eliminate U.S. jobs. The comments provided the following reasons: (1) The Office has not appropriately addressed applicants' interests in maximizing patent protection and receiving a fair consideration of all claims submitted; (2) the rule changes would require applicants to claim all aspects of the disclosed invention initially, even though applicants often file applications without knowing the value of their inventions in order to determine which embodiment will have value and be worthy of the investment in patent protection; (3) applicants would not be able to identify and address all claim permutations in the initial application and one continuation application, and complex inventions often need more claims and more than one continuation application to protect the invention; (4) the Office should provide applicants the flexibility to prosecute different embodiments at a later time; (5) the applicant should be permitted to present claims (or change the scope of the claims) in continuing applications to cover an embodiment of the invention disclosed in the initial application when the applicant later determines the commercial value of the embodiment, develops the actual product, or discovers a potential infringer's product; (6) competitors could easily circumvent the patent claims because applicant would not have the ability to change the scope of the claims to cover the competitor's product in a continuing application; (7) in view of the courts' restrictive claim interpretation, the required showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 would eliminate a vast number of legitimate continuing applications and requests for continued examination needed to provide coverage of alternate aspects of an invention. Response: This final rule does not place any per se limits on the number of continued examination filings that may be filed or on the number of claims an applicant may present in an application. Applicant is permitted to submit all of the claims that applicant desires during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and a request for continued examination. An applicant who considers this to be insufficient may file a third or subsequent continuing application or second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition showing why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier. For most applicants who prosecute their applications diligently, additional continued examination filings would not be needed. Applicant may also file a reissue application under 35 U.S.C. 251, if appropriate, to submit claims with different scope. Further, the use of continuation practice to circumvent statutory requirements for reissue and reexamination proceedings is not appropriate. In addition, the rules require an applicant to advance prosecution and not waste the Office's resources examining an application when the applicant is not ready to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the applicant regards as his or her invention. See also Sec. 10.18(b)(2)(i) and Hyatt v. Dudas, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 15350 (Fed. Cir. Jun. 28, 2007). Applicant should not use continued examination practice to delay the prosecution of the application because this adversely impacts the Office's ability to examine new applications and reduce the backlog of unexamined applications. Comment 47: One comment predicted that the rule changes would discourage first action allowances because some applicants would intentionally file applications with at least one defect in order to receive a rejection to drag out pendency so that they can have more time to determine whether to file continuing applications. Response: There is no reason why the new changes being adopted in this final rule will encourage an applicant to intentionally file an application with at least one defect to delay prosecution. Additionally, such an action by an applicant would violate Sec. 10.18(b)(2)(i). By presenting to the Office any paper (including an application), the applicant is certifying that to the best of the applicant's knowledge, information and belief, formed after an inquiry reasonable under the circumstances, that the paper is not being presented to cause unnecessary delay or needless [[Page 46761]] increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office. Comment 48: One comment sought clarification as to whether an applicant is permitted to amend the claims and/or file a continuation application to claim allowable subject matter presented in dependent claims. Response: Applicant may amend the claims of an initial application to claim allowable subject matter presented in dependent claims if the amendment complies with the rules of practice (e.g., Sec. 1.116). For example, applicant may submit such an amendment in the initial application in response to a non-final Office action in the initial application. Such an amendment, however, will not be entered in the initial application as a matter of right after a final Office action. Under this final rule, applicant alternatively may file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification and pursue the amendment in one of those two applications or in the request for continued examination. Comment 49: Several comments argued that the combined effect of the limit on the number of representative claims and the limit on the number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination as a matter of right would increase the number of multiple parallel applications and divisional applications because applicants would file more multiple parallel applications with small numbers of claims or present claim sets that would provoke restriction requirements. Either way, the comments contended that the backlog will increase. One comment further alleged that applicants would file more continued examination filings and appeals because by limiting the number of claims examined, two Office actions would be insufficient, thus resulting in an increase in pendency and cost. One comment argued that the rule changes would disproportionately impact inventions that require more claims, continuing applications, or examiner time. One comment stated that the limitations on continued examination filings and claims would cause more litigation because they would create more uncertainty in infringement and validity. Response: As discussed previously, the Office is not adopting the ``representative claims'' examination approach or restricting the number of continued examination filings to one without any justification. Rather, this final rule permits applicant to present more than five independent claims or more than twenty total claims in an application if applicant files an examination support document. Applicant is also permitted to file two continuation or continuation- in-part applications, plus a request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. The changes being adopted in this final rule do not place per se limits on the number of claims which applicant may present in an application or on the number of continued examination filings. The changes being adopted in this final rule do not encourage applicant to file multiple parallel applications that contain patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and 1.78(f). Applicants would obtain little benefit from filing multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims because the Office would treat each application as having the total of all of the claims (whether in independent or dependent form) in all such applications for purposes of determining whether an examination support document is required by Sec. 1.75(b)(1) (but not for purposes of calculating the excess claims fee due in each application). Likewise, this final rule will not cause the number of divisional applications to increase because this final rule permits divisional applications to be filed serially. Therefore, applicant should have sufficient time to determine whether to file a divisional application to claim a non-elected invention. Comment 50: A few comments suggested that the limits set in Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and 1.78(d)(1) are inconsistent with interference practice under 35 U.S.C. 135 of copying claims for purposes of preserving the right to provoke an interference. One comment suggested that the changes to Sec. 1.78 eliminates an applicant's right to add claims to an application to cover a similar or parallel technology, provided that the added claims find support in the specification, citing PIN/NIP, Inc., v. Platt Chemical Co., 304 F.3d 1235, 1247, 64 U.S.P.Q.2d 1344, 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2002). One comment stated that subjecting patentably indistinct claims in multiple commonly owned applications to elimination under Sec. 1.78(f)(3) violates case law, for example Kingsdown Med. Consultants, Ltd. v. Hollister Inc., 863 F.2d 867, 874, 9 U.S.P.Q.2d 1384, 1390 (Fed. Cir. 1988). Response: The Office has modified proposed Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and Sec. 1.78(d)(1). This final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Applicant may also file a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and showing. This final rule permits applicant to present up to five independent claims or twenty-five total claims in each application, without an explanation. Applicant may also present more than five independent claims and more than twenty-five total claims if applicant files an examination support document before the first Office action on the merits of the application. Applicant may file as many claims as necessary to claim the full scope of his or her invention. This final rule provides sufficient opportunities for applicant to present claims to provoke an interference during the prosecution of these applications. Therefore, the changes to Sec. Sec. 1.75(b)(4) and 1.78(d)(1) being adopted in this final rule are not inconsistent with 35 U.S.C. 135. Furthermore, applicant may also file a reissue application under 35 U.S.C. 251, if appropriate, to submit claims for provoking an interference. In other situations, however, applicant is not permitted to maintain an application in pending status, without advancing prosecution, for the sole purpose of awaiting developments in similar or parallel technology. As previously discussed, such practice does not advance prosecution before the Office and impairs the ability of the Office to examine new and existing applications. In other situations, however, applicant is not permitted to maintain an application in pending status, without advancing prosecution, for the sole purpose of awaiting developments in similar or parallel technology. As previously discussed, such practice does not advance prosecution before the Office and impairs the ability of the Office to examine new and existing applications. The Federal Circuit noted in PIN/NIP that one may amend an application for the purpose of encompassing devices or processes of others, subject to compliance with the requirements of the patent statute and regulations (the claim at issue was determined to be invalid under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for lack of written description support). See PIN/NIP, 304 F.3d at 1247, 64 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1352. As such, PIN/NIP cannot be relied upon to support a ``wait and see'' concept under which an applicant files an initial application followed by a stream of continuation applications just to wait for any competitor to develop and market an invention not claimed in the initial application. PIN/NIP, 304 [[Page 46762]] F.3d at 1247, 64 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1352. Further, in Kingsdown, the Federal Circuit opined: ``Nor is it in any manner improper to amend or insert claims intended to cover a competitor's product the applicant's attorney has learned about during the prosecution of a patent application. Any such amendment or insertion must comply with all statutes and regulations, of course, but, if it does, its genesis in the marketplace is simply irrelevant.'' Kingsdown, 863 F.2d at 874, 9 U.S.P.Q.2d at 130. This statement does not equate to a pronouncement that an applicant has a ``right'' under the patent statutes to file a continuous stream of continuing applications to ensure that there is always a pending application in which to present claims encompassing devices or processes of others. Further continuation practice is not intended to supplant or permit circumvention of reissue practice. The patent statute at 35 U.S.C. chapter 25 provides for the correction of patents, and specifically provides for the reissue of a patent in those situations in which a ``patent is, through error without any deceptive intention, deemed wholly or partly inoperative or invalid, by reason of * * * the patentee claiming more or less than he had a right to claim in the patent.'' See 35 U.S.C. 251. See also Toro Co. v. White Consol. Indus., 383 F.3d 1326, 1333, 72 U.S.P.Q.2d 1449, 1454 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (citing Johnson & Johnston, 304 F.2d at 1055, 62 U.S.P.Q.2d at 1231). Nothing, however, suggests that an applicant has a ``right'' under the patent statutes to file a continuing application to avoid the requirements of the reissue statute when seeking to correct or enlarge the scope of a patent. There is a difference between adding claims to an application that are otherwise pending, and deliberately prolonging prosecution in order to be able to do so. Deliberately prolonging a proceeding before the Office would not be consistent with the requirements of Sec. 10.18. Applicant may copy claims from another application or patent that is not commonly owned for the purposes of provoking an interference, without triggering Sec. 1.78(f)(3). Section 1.78(f)(3) applies only to multiple commonly owned applications that contain patentably indistinct claims. Section 1.78(f)(3) is a restatement of former Sec. 1.78(b), which previously gave the Office the same discretion to require elimination of patentably indistinct claims in all but one of the pending nonprovisional applications. The Office is not preventing applicants from providing such patentably indistinct claims in a single application, or in multiple applications if applicant submits a terminal disclaimer in accordance with Sec. 1.321(c) and explains why submitting patentably indistinct claims in separate applications is necessary. Comment 51: Several comments suggested that if the Office implements the limits on continued examination filings, the limits on the number of claims would be unnecessary. Response: The comment provides no explanation as to how or why implementation of the continued examination filing changes would make the claims provisions unnecessary. The Office determined that the implementation of the changes to the continued examination practice and practice for examination of claims in patent applications are necessary to achieve quality and efficiency in the patent examination process. Comment 52: A number of comments argued that applicants should be permitted to file more than one continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination as a matter of right because there are many legitimate reasons for the filings. The comments provided the following examples: (1) The process of developing the best prior art and obtaining the broadest possible protection is a complex process and may extend the prosecution process; (2) applicants may use strategies that would avoid prosecution history estoppel and preserve doctrine of equivalents protection; (3) applicants may maintain a continuing application so that they could respond to any adverse court decisions and associated uncertainties; (4) the quality of the examination process may cause delays; (5) examiners would allow broader claims in a continuation application after becoming more familiar with the subject matter and have more time to improve the search and analysis; (6) applicants may maintain a continuing application pending to prevent competitors from copying the invention or circumventing the initial patent claims because the courts are less inclined to interpret the scope of invention beyond the literal meaning of the claims, precluding claim scope that once was captured under the doctrine of equivalents; (7) applicants may file continuation applications as an ``insurance policy'' so that applicants can correct any defects found in the first patent or adjust the claim coverage without surrendering the patent (as in the reissue and reexamination practices); (8) applicants may file continuing applications to build large patent portfolios and attract capital investments; (9) applicants want time to conduct testing and to reevaluate the claim scope in light of new prior art, market experience, and technology development; (10) for complex technologies, it may take several prosecutions to determine the bounds of patentable subject matter; (11) applicants may want many patents on an invention to strengthen the protection; (12) applicants may file continuing applications to correct errors in the initial prosecution including those made by inexperienced representatives or applicants; and (13) applicants who are in a crowded or highly valuable field need to keep a continuing application pending for the purposes of provoking interference. Response: The Office recognizes that there are some appropriate reasons for filing multiple continuing applications and requests for continued examination. There are, however, a number of reasons given for multiple continuing applications and requests for continued examination that are not considered appropriate. The changes being adopted in this final rule are tailored to permit applicants to file the initial application, two continuation or continuation-in-part applications, and a request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Any applicant who considers this to be insufficient may file an additional continuation or continuation-in- part application or a request for continued examination with a petition showing why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted during the prosecution of the prior filings. Applicants are required to prosecute diligently and to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the applicant regards as his or her invention, upon filing the application. If applicant's lack of knowledge of prior art, or lack of diligence during the prosecution of the application, causes unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office, applicant would be violating his or her duty under Sec. 10.18. See Sec. 10.18(b)(2)(i). Comment 53: A number of comments argued that many continuing applications and requests for continued examination are caused by inadequate examinations, the final Office action practice, and the examiner production system. The comments provided the following examples: (1) It may take several exchanges between the examiner and applicant before the examiner appears to understand the invention; (2) examiners' lack of experience in the art and patent law; (3) some examiners have difficulty using the English [[Page 46763]] language in oral and written communications; (4) the Office has large turnover in examining personnel; (5) examiners make too many restriction requirements; (6) examiners want to obtain additional ``counts''; (7) examiners make improper rejections; (8) examiners refuse to enter any after-final replies; (9) examiners are not given sufficient time to conduct a proper search and examination in the initial application; (10) examiners did not read the specification and claims; (11) examiners do not adequately consider arguments made by the applicants; (12) examiners make premature final rejections; (13) examiners conduct piecemeal examination; (14) examiners are being overturned by supervisors or quality control; (15) examiners do not indicate allowable claims; (16) examiners do not set forth the rejections clearly in the Office actions; (17) examiners do not apply legal standards consistently; and (18) examiners make new grounds of rejection or cite new art in final Office actions. Response: The Office provides applicant with procedures to address inadequate examination issues. Applicant should not use the continued examination practice as a substitute for the petition or appeal process. The practice of permitting an unlimited number of continuing applications and requests for continued examination appears to have created lax practices. Applicants should raise any issue of inadequate examination before the examiner and/or the examiner's supervisor. For example, applicants should raise any question as to prematureness of a final rejection before the primary examiner. Applicant may seek review of the examiner's decision on the finality of the Office action by petition under Sec. 1.181, if appropriate. See MPEP Sec. Sec. 706.07(c) and 1002.02(c). Restriction requirements are also reviewable by petition under Sec. 1.181. Applicants may request an interview with the examiner to ensure that the examiner understands the invention or claims correctly, or to seek clarification of the rejections or Office action. See Sec. 1.133(a)(2). If applicant disagrees with the examiner's rejections, applicant may appeal the rejections to the BPAI and/or request a pre-appeal brief conference, if appropriate. Comment 54: A number of comments argued that filing continuing applications and requests for continued examination is more efficient and cost-effective in dealing with deficiencies of the examination process (even before a ``stubborn examiner'') because the factual record is fixed on appeal and the appeal process takes a longer time and is expensive, especially for independent inventors and small entities. The comments predicted that the rule changes would increase the number of pre-appeal brief conferences, examiner's answers and appeals, and force applicants to appeal applications that are not in condition for appeal (e.g., the record has not been fully developed and unamended claims may be appealed). Several comments pointed out that continuing applications and requests for continued examination help applicants to place the application in better condition for appeal because most examiners refuse to enter the after-final amendments. One comment stated that some applicants might file the appeal simply to preserve pendency. Some of the comments suggested that the Office should wait and see what effect a quicker appeal process would have on the backlog before implementing the rule changes. The comments stated that once applicants appreciate the appeal process changes, more applicants would file appeals rather than continuing applications and requests for continued examination. Furthermore, the comments noted that a study conducted by a firm shows that out of 121 appeal briefs (appeals from January 1, 2004 to March 23, 2006), examiners issued only nine answers, which represents an enormous waste of applicants' time and money. One comment predicted that the BPAI would be quickly overwhelmed and a broken appeal process would create more damage to the examination process than the current problems. Response: If applicant disagrees with the examiner's rejections, applicants should file an appeal rather than filing a continuation application or a request for continued examination. The appeal process offers a more effective resolution than the filing of a continuation application or a request for continued examination. The pre-appeal brief conference program provides applicant a relatively expeditious and low cost review of rejections by a panel of examiners. If, after the conference, the prosecution is reopened, the applicant will have a further opportunity to prosecute in front of the examiner. Applicant would not need to file an appeal brief. If the Office decides that the application should remain under appeal, it would be more efficient to appeal the rejection to the BPAI by filing an appeal brief rather than delay the appeal by filing a continuation application or a request for continued examination. Furthermore, the pendency of an appeal is relatively short. The current (as of the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2007) pendency of a decided appeal was 5.6 months. The pendency of an appeal is the period between the assignment of an appeal number and the mailing date of the decision. In addition, the BPAI has reduced the inventory of pending appeals from 9,201 at the close of fiscal year 1997 to 1,357 at the close of fiscal year 2006. Nevertheless, continuing applications and requests for continued examination as a percentage of total filings have increased as BPAI appeal pendency and inventory of pending appeals has decreased. Applicants should have sufficient opportunity to place the application in condition for appeal during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications, and one request for continued examination in an application family. An applicant who considers this to be insufficient may file any third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part applications or second or subsequent requests for continued examination with a petition showing why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. Comment 55: Several comments alleged that the Office has provided no evidence for the assertion that the exchange between applicants and examiners becomes less beneficial and suffers from diminished returns after the initial application. A number of comments also argued that the Office did not provide any investigation or analysis of the frequency with which the value of exchanges between the examiner and applicant decrease after the first continuing application or request for continued examination. A number of comments suggested that continuing applications and requests for continued examination permit additional mutually beneficial interaction between the examiner and applicant because: (1) The examiner and applicant already are familiar with the issues in the prosecution; (2) they give the examiner more time to examine the same subject matter and gain better understanding of the prior art; and (3) they permit applicants multiple opportunities to refine the claims and present additional data or evidence which would result in better quality patents with valid claims and clearly defined subject matter. Several comments argued that the rule changes would not improve public notice and the exchanges between the examiner and applicant because applicants would file multiple parallel applications rather than one single application and the applications would be assigned to [[Page 46764]] different examiners. Several comments argued that the exchanges between the examiner and applicant would be less efficient and more contentious because applicants would present broader claims and argue rejections more aggressively resulting in higher pendency. Several comments also predicted that applicant would request more interviews which would be more work for both the examiner and applicant. Several comments argued that it is unclear how the exchange between examiners and applicants will be more efficient because there is nothing in the proposal to encourage examiners to be more reasonable and appeals are not more efficient. One comment also argued that the Office is making unexplained assumptions that: (1) The value of a continuing application or a request for continued examination is less than the value of a new application; (2) the changes to continuing applications practice being adopted in this final rule should improve the quality of issued patents, making them easier to evaluate, enforce, and litigate; (3) this small minority of applicants prejudices the public permitting applicants to keep applications in pending status while awaiting developments in similar or parallel technology and then later amending the pending application to cover the developments; and (4) the changes being adopted in this final rule will result in claims issuing faster. Response: Under this final rule, applicant is permitted to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family. These filings will provide sufficient opportunities for applicants to submit amendments, arguments, and evidence. Furthermore, the exchange between applicant and the examiner will be more efficient because applicant can no longer delay the submissions of amendments, argument, and evidence and the examiner will have the information earlier to determine the patentability of the claims. In addition, even if one could argue that additional continuing applications and requests for continued examination are beneficial in the particular application, the marginal value of a third or subsequent continuing application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination vis-[aacute]-vis the patent examination process decreases due to the Office resources occupied by the additional continued examination filings for amendments, argument, and evidence that could have been presented earlier. Nevertheless, an applicant can show on petition that an additional filing is necessary. Finally, the changes being adopted in this final rule require applicant to submit all of the claims that are patentably indistinct in one single application and to identify multiple applications that contain patentably indistinct claims. See Sec. Sec. 1.75(b) and 1.78(f). Comment 56: One comment argued that the Office should not impose a limit on the number of continuing applications an applicant may file when the Office can issue any number of rejections and improper final rejections. Response: In this final rule, the Office has not placed an absolute limit on the number of continued examination filings. Rather, applicant is permitted to file the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification, and any third or subsequent continuing application or second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and a showing as why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier. Applicant may seek review of any improper finality of a rejection by filing a petition under Sec. 1.181, or of any improper rejection by filing a notice of appeal, a request for pre- appeal brief conference, and an appeal brief. Comment 57: Several comments argued that examiners will have to review larger submissions because applicants will be forced to front- load responses to every Office action with interviews, declarations and other evidence when the attorney's argument alone otherwise might have been sufficient. The comments argued that this would increase pendency. One comment predicted that the rule changes would decrease examiners' production because there would be ``more hard cases'' and ``less easy counts.'' Several comments stated that the rule changes would require applicant to respond to a first Office action by preparing what would be a de facto appeal brief with all of the arguments and evidence because applicant would only file the one permissible continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination as a last resort after appeal. Response: Section 1.78 as adopted in this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuing applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Thus, the changes adopted in this final rule do not require applicant to respond to a first Office action by preparing what would be a de facto appeal brief with all of the arguments and evidence. Nevertheless, the examination will be more efficient when applicant submits a fully responsive reply to each Office action so that the examiner will have the information, including amendments, arguments, and evidence, to determine the patentability sooner rather than later. Even prior to the changes being adopted in this final rule, applicants have been required to file a fully responsive reply to an Office action. See Sec. Sec. 1.111(b) and (c). A change to the rules of practice that encourages applicants to submit complete, rather than piecemeal, replies will advance prosecution to final disposition with a minimum number of Office actions, continuing applications, and requests for continued examination. Such change streamlines the examination process, thereby benefiting both applicants and the Office. Comment 58: A number of comments argued that continuation or continuation-in-part applications and requests for continued examination are needed so that applicants can submit prior art that is discovered after the prosecution is closed (e.g., through international search reports or foreign search reports), and amend the claims in view of late newly-discovered art. Several comments suggested that the Office should permit applicants to file a request for continued examination without a petition and showing to submit newly discovered prior art, and art cited by the U.S. International Searching Authority similar to art cited by a foreign patent office, because otherwise applicants would be penalized due to PCT administrative backlogs. One comment sought clarification in the situation where an applicant wishes to withdraw an application from issue to submit new art for consideration and a continuation application has been filed. Response: Applicant is not required to file a continuation or continuation-in-part application or a request for continued examination in order to submit prior art discovered after the prosecution is closed or an amendment in view of the late discovered art. The Office recently proposed changes to information disclosure statement (IDS) requirements. See Changes To Information Disclosure Statement Requirements and Other Related Matters, 71 FR 38808 (July 10, 2006), 1309 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 25 (Aug. 1, 2006) (proposed rule) (hereinafter ``Information Disclosure Statement Proposed Rule''). The proposed changes [[Continued on page 46765]] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] ] [[pp. 46765-46814]] Changes To Practice for Continued Examination Filings, Patent Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, and Examination of Claims in Patent Applications [[Continued from page 46764]] [[Page 46765]] (if adopted) would permit applicant to submit an IDS after a first Office action on the merits, but before the mailing date of a notice of allowability or a notice of allowance under Sec. 1.311, if applicant files the IDS with the certification under Sec. 1.97(e)(1) and a copy of the foreign search report, or an explanation under proposed Sec. 1.98(a)(3)(iv) and a non-cumulative description under proposed Sec. 1.98(a)(3)(v). Applicant would also be permitted to submit an IDS after allowance, but before the payment of the issue fee, if applicant files the IDS with a patentability justification under proposed Sec. 1.98(a)(3)(vi), including any appropriate amendments to the claims. Applicant would be permitted to submit an IDS after the payment of the issue fee if applicant files a petition to withdraw from issue pursuant to Sec. 1.313(c)(1), the patentability justification under proposed Sec. 1.98(a)(3)(vi)(B), and an amendment to the claims. Prior to the effective date of any final rule based upon the Information Disclosure Statement Proposed Rule, applicant may submit an IDS after the close of prosecution with a petition under Sec. 1.183 if the IDS complies with the applicable requirements set forth in the Information Disclosure Statement Proposed Rule for such an IDS. B. Treatment of Third and Subsequent Continuation or Continuation-In- Part Applications Comment 59: Several comments supported the rule changes that permit one continued examination filing without any justification. A number of comments, however, suggested that the Office should permit more than one continued examination filing without requiring a petition and showing. The comments suggested the following without a petition and showing: (1) At least two continuation or continuation-in-part applications; (2) at least three continuation or continuation-in-part applications; (3) three to six continued examination filings; (4) three to five applications per application family; (5) only one patent to be issued from a chain of continuation applications; (6) unlimited number of continuation applications coupled with a requirement for a patentability report in the third or subsequent continuation application or a prior art search and compliance with the requirements under 35 U.S.C. 112; (7) two requests for continued examination, but only one continuation or continuation-in-part application; (8) at least one request for continued examination per application; (9) more than one request for continued examination per application; and (10) two or three requests for continued examination per application. Several comments suggested that the Office should permit more than one continuation or continuation-in-part application if the applications are filed within a reasonable time period (e.g., one to eight years from the earliest filing date claimed). One comment suggested that the Office should permit requests for continued examination filed within three years of the filing date if applicant has filed a petition to make special for accelerated examination. One comment suggested that the Office should permit applicant to file a request for continued examination, but allow the examiner to refuse the request for continued examination if the first action can be made final. One comment suggested that the Office should eliminate all continuing applications except for divisional applications. One comment proposed that the Office should eliminate all continuing applications, but permit requests for continued examination. One comment suggested that the limitation on the number of continued examination filings should not apply to divisional applications and requests for continued examination. Response: The Office has modified the proposed provisions that permit applicant to file one continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination without any justification. Under this final rule, applicant may file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications plus one request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Applicant may also file any third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and showing. The changes being adopted in this final rule will permit the Office to focus its patent examining resources on examining new applications, and thus reduce the backlog of unexamined applications and improve pendency for all applications. Permitting more than two continuation or continuation-in-part applications and more than one request for continued examination in an application family without any justification would significantly decrease the effectiveness of the changes being adopted in this final rule. These final rule requirements for seeking a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application will not impact the vast majority of the applications. A time limit requirement for filing continuing applications and requests for continued examination would not be desirable because it would encourage applicants to file an unlimited number of continued examination filings before the time period expires. Furthermore, a time limit would preclude an applicant from filing appropriate continued examination filings after the time period expires. Additionally, this suggested strategy would also disproportionately impact applications in certain technologies (e.g., biotechnology) that have long prosecutions. Requiring a patentability report or a prior art search in a continuation application would not increase efficiency in the examination of the initial application. If applicant submits the information earlier in the initial application, applicant most likely would not need to file a third or subsequent continuing application because the examiner would have all of the relevant information to make the patentability determination in the initial application. The Office recognizes there are appropriate reasons for filing continued examination filings. As a result, the Office did not place an absolute limit on the number of continued examination filings. If the prior-filed application was subject to a requirement for restriction, applicant may file a divisional application directed to a non-elected invention that has not been examined. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. See Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(ii). Therefore, the changes being adopted in this final rule appropriately balance the need to reduce the large and growing backlog of unexamined patent applications and make the patent examination process more effective. Comment 60: Several comments expressed concerns that there would be an added economic burden on applicants, particularly small entities, to pursue additional continued examination filings due to the new petition process, and that the economic burden will effectively be a bar to many applicants. The comments stated that even when an additional continued examination filing is completely justified, applicants will suffer undue hardship and will likely be deterred from even attempting to request any additional continued examination filing because of the expense and time involved to review and prepare the petition. One comment suggested that the petition process under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) will have a disparate effect on small entities. Several comments suggested that the [[Page 46766]] Office should provide an exception for filing additional continued examination filings to applicants who are small entities and those that qualify for financial hardship. One comment further suggested that the Office should provide the exception for five years. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d) and 1.114(g) that would permit an applicant to file one continuation application, continuation-in-part application, or request for continued examination, without any justification. The Office has made modifications to the proposed provisions such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Under this final rule, an applicant may also file a divisional application of a prior-filed application for the claims to a non-elected invention that was not examined if the application was subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Applicant may file any additional continuation application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing. The changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d) and 1.114(g) adopted in this final rule apply to all applicants, regardless of whether they are individuals, small businesses or large multinational corporations. These changes do not disproportionately affect individuals and small businesses. Applicants who seek to file a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination are required to file a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g) regardless of their status. The requirements for seeking a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination would only have affected 2.9 percent of the applications or requests for continued examination filed by a small entity in fiscal year 2006. The Office notes that a vast majority of applicants do not file more than two continuation or continuation-in- part applications and more than one request for continued examination in an application family. Therefore, the $400 petition fee and the showing requirement will impact only a small minority of applicants. C. Treatment of Second and Subsequent Requests for Continued Examination Comment 61: Several comments supported the changes to Sec. 1.114. A number of comments, however, objected to the changes and suggested that the Office should permit applicants to file requests for continued examination without a petition and showing. The comments provided the following reasons: (1) Requests for continued examination are different from continuing applications because requests for continued examination require applicant to advance prosecution and would not cause the Office to issue multiple patents to the same invention; (2) requests for continued examination are not continuation applications, but rather are the same application; (3) requests for continued examination help applicants to deal with deficiencies in the examination process and provide a more efficient, effective and cheaper procedure to advance prosecution and have art considered than the appeal, petition or reissue process; (4) limiting applicants to one request for continued examination without a petition would lead to more filings of continuation applications and petitions; (5) due to the changes in Sec. 1.75, the Office would issue more final Office actions with new grounds of rejection, which would necessitate the filing of more requests for continued examination; and (6) applicants would file more appeals, and thus the pendency of applications would increase. Response: The Office has modified the proposed provisions to provide that an applicant may file a request for continued examination in an application family, without a petition and showing. An application family includes the initial application and its continuation or continuation-in-part applications. Under this final rule, applicant may also file a request for continued examination in a divisional application family, without a petition and showing. A divisional application family includes the divisional application and its continuation applications. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. Therefore, the filing of a request for continued examination does not preclude an applicant from filing two continuation or continuation-in-part applications. Similarly, the filing of a continuation or continuation-in-part application does not preclude an applicant from filing a request for continued examination. When applicant files a request for continued examination, the prosecution of the application is reopened and the examiner conducts another substantive examination on the claims present in the application. Consequently, similar to continuation or continuation-in- part applications, requests for continued examination divert the Office's patent examining resources from the examination of new applications and contribute to the backlog of unexamined applications. The request for continued examination practice should not be used as a substitute for the appeal, petition or reissue process. If the applicant disagrees with the examiner's rejections, then the applicant should pursue the appeal process as a means to more efficiently resolve the disagreement. In addition, under the Office's new optional streamlined continuation procedure, an applicant may request that a continuation application be placed on an examiner's amended (Regular Amended) docket (see discussions of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) and 1.114) which would be picked up for action faster than an application placed on the examiner's new continuing application (New Special) docket. By requesting that the two continuation applications permitted under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) be treated under the optional streamlined continuation application procedure, an applicant may obtain the benefits of faster processing similar to having a second and third request for continued examination without a petition under Sec. 1.114(g). Comment 62: One comment sought clarification on whether the changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 being adopted in this final rule apply to reissue applications. Response: The changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 being adopted in this final rule apply to reissue applications. Under this final rule, applicant may file two reissue continuation applications plus a request for continued examination in the reissue application family, without any justification. Benefit claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) in the application for patent that is being reissued will not be taken into account in determining whether a continuing reissue application claiming the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) of the reissue application satisfies one or more of the conditions set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through 1.78(d)(1)(vi). For example, even if the application for the original patent was a second continuation application, applicant may still file two reissue continuation [[Page 46767]] applications. However, an applicant may not use the reissue process to add to the original patent benefit claims under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, or 365(c) that do not satisfy one or more of the conditions set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(i) through 1.78(d)(1)(vi) to the original patent, if the application for the original patent was filed on or after November 1, 2007. Comment 63: One comment suggested that the examiner should not make any new rejections in a request for continued examination, unless the amendment to the claims raises new issues. Response: When applicant files a request for continued examination in compliance with Sec. 1.114, the prosecution of the application is reopened and the examiner will consider the amendment, argument, or evidence submitted by the applicant. The examiner will conduct another substantive examination, consistent with providing ``for the continued examination of application'' under 35 U.S.C. 132(b). Limiting the examiner's ability to conduct a patentability determination after the filing of a request for continued examination would not result in efficiency in the examination process. Comment 64: One comment argued that it would be inconsistent to permit the filing of a request for continued examination in a prior- filed application after a continuation application is filed, but to not permit the filing of a continuation application of an application that has a request for continued examination filed therein. Another comment suggested that the Office should permit an applicant to file a continuation application even though a request for continued examination had been filed in the prior-filed application. Response: The Office has modified the proposed provisions to provide that an applicant may file a request for continued examination in an application family, without a petition and showing. The provisions of Sec. 1.78(d)(1) are independent of the provisions of Sec. 1.114. Therefore, the filing of a request for continued examination does not preclude an applicant from first filing two continuation or continuation-in-part applications. Likewise, the filing of a continuation or continuation-in-part application does not preclude an applicant from first filing a request for continued examination. Put differently, under this final rule, applicant may file a continuation application of an application in which a request for continued examination has already been filed. Applicant may also file a request for continued examination in a prior-filed application after a continuation application has been filed. D. Petitions Related to Additional Continuation Applications, Continuation-In-Part Applications, and Requests for Continued Examination Comment 65: A number of comments were critical of the showing requirement set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114. One comment argued that the required showing is a per se limit on the number of continuation or continuation-in-part applications and requests for continued examination. Several comments stated that the standard under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 is a hindsight standard. The comments argued that except for rare instances when evidence was not in existence prior to filing the additional continuing examination filing, the Office could almost always conclude, in hindsight, that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could have been previously submitted. One comment argued that the showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114(g) is too stringent and unrealistic given the practicalities of conventional and reasonable patent prosecution practice and the interests of patent applicants. Several other comments described the showing as exceptionally high, onerous, impossible to meet, restrictive, and ambiguous. Furthermore, several comments asserted that the rule changes required applicants to be aware of all possible prior art. Several other comments stated that the required showing set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 appears difficult to meet for any amendment submitted with an application that is not a continuation-in-part application, indicating that it is hard to imagine how one would prove that an amendment or argument ``could not have been submitted'' in the absence of new matter. One comment objected to the required showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 because the purpose of filing an additional continuation or continuation-in-part application or a request for continued examination may be to do something other than present a new argument, evidence or amendment, such as protect a different aspect of the invention revealed by research and development subsequent to an initial application filing. One comment stated that given enough time and effort an applicant will almost always be able to come up with some reason why the amendment, argument, or evidence could not have been previously submitted as required by Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 and that this requirement merely adds a layer of bureaucracy. One comment in support of the showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 stated that it is a sensible compromise that does not ban additional continued examination filings, but requires applicants in essence to show good cause for additional continued examination filings. Several comments in support of the showing stated that the proposed rules accommodate the legitimate uses of continuations, limit abuses that can harm the competitive process, and promote the patent system's ability to provide incentives to innovate by reducing pendency. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed provisions that would require a petition and showing if an applicant files more than one continued examination filing (a continuation application, a continuation-in-part application, or a request for continued examination). The Office has made modifications to these proposed changes such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Under this final rule, an applicant may also file a divisional application of an application for the claims to a non-elected invention that was not examined if the application was subject to a requirement for restriction. The divisional application need not be filed during the pendency of the application subject to a requirement for restriction, as long as the copendency requirement of 35 U.S.C. 120 is met. This final rule also permits applicant to file two continuation applications of a divisional application plus a request for continued examination in the divisional application family, without any justification. Applicant may file any additional continuation application or request for continued examination with a petition and showing. Therefore, given the multiple opportunities for applicant to submit amendments, arguments, or evidence, it is appropriate to require an applicant to justify why an amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier when filing any third or subsequent continuation application, continuation-in-part application, or second or subsequent request for continued examination. The Office considers the standard set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) to be an appropriate balance of the interests of applicants and the need for a better [[Page 46768]] focused and effective examination process to reduce the large and growing backlog of unexamined applications. Applicants and practitioners have a duty to refrain from submitting an application or other filing to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of prosecution before the Office. See Sec. 10.18(b)(2). Applicants also have a duty throughout the prosecution of an application to make a bona fide attempt to advance the application to final agency action. See Changes to Practice for Continuing Applications, Requests for Continued Examination Practice, and Applications Containing Patentably Indistinct Claims, 71 FR at 49, 1302 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office at 1319. Applicant should be prepared to particularly point out and distinctly claim what the applicant regards as his or her invention. Furthermore, the examination process is more efficient and the quality of the patentability determination will improve when applicant presents the desired claims, amendments, arguments and evidence as early as possible in the prosecution. The changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78 and 1.114 in this final rule do not require an applicant to be aware of all possible prior art to meet the showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g), but applicant is required to conduct a prior art search for filing an examination support document under Sec. 1.265. Nor do these changes add to applicant's existing duties under Sec. 1.56(a) to disclose to the Office all information known to the applicant to be material to patentability, and under 37 CFR Part 10. Comment 66: One comment asserted that the Office will not achieve its goal of reducing the number of filings of continuation applications because an applicant could easily show why the amendment, argument, or evidence could not have been previously submitted when the subject matter of the claims in the continuation application is different from the subject matter of the claims of the initial application. Response: The submission of an amendment to the claims or new claims to different subject matter alone will not be sufficient to meet the showing requirement under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Applicant must provide a satisfactory showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuation applications, and the request for continued examination. Comment 67: One comment stated that the required showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d) and 1.114 might have far-reaching implications that extend outside the patent process. Several comments expressed concerns that the showing may require applicants to disclose highly sensitive business information such as business strategies, and to alert their competitors as to how the applicants plan to gain a competitive edge. The comments further expressed concerns that the petition procedure may also invoke attorney-client privilege. Response: Applicants or patent owners often present sensitive business information to the Office, such as a showing of unavoidable delay in a petition to revive under Sec. 1.137(a) or a petition to accept late payment of a maintenance fee under Sec. 1.378(b). The Office has procedures in place for applicants and patent owners to submit trade secrets, proprietary material, and protective order material and to prevent unnecessary public disclosure of the material. See MPEP Sec. Sec. 724-724.06. If it is necessary for an applicant to disclose sensitive business information to the Office to meet the showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g), applicant may submit the information in compliance with the procedures set forth in MPEP Sec. Sec. 724-724.06 (e.g., the information must be clearly labeled as such and be filed in a sealed, clearly labeled, envelope or container). Comment 68: One comment stated that the petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 would be scrutinized in court, creating a substantial increase in time and resources devoted to litigating and enforcing otherwise valid patent rights. One comment expressed concern that the petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 are unlikely to be granted and are likely to be the subject of an attack in litigation. A number of comments asserted that applicants would be subject to a higher potential for allegations of inequitable conduct. Additionally, one comment argued that the proposed rule changes would increase the frequency of malpractice litigation. Response: The rules adopted in this final rule require applicants to prosecute their applications with reasonable diligence and foresight. The submission of a showing as to why an amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier does not expose an applicant to a greater risk of inequitable conduct or litigation. The failure to disclose material information, or an affirmative misrepresentation of a material fact or submission of false material information or statements, coupled with an intent to deceive or mislead the Office, constitutes inequitable conduct. The simple submission of a showing as to why an amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier does not by itself raise such intent. If an applicant acts with candor and good faith in dealing with the Office, there should be no increased risk that the applicant will be accused of inequitable conduct. Similarly, if patent practitioners abide by the standards of professional conduct expected of practitioners in their relationships with their clients, and comply with the requirements of the patent statutes and rules, there should be no reason for increased exposure to malpractice suits. Comment 69: Several comments suggested that the Office should adopt an alternate standard for additional continued examination filings in place of the standard set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114. Some of the comments suggested the following alternatives: (1) A reasonable diligence standard; (2) a certification by a practitioner that it is necessary for the inventor to be adequately protected; (3) the ``unduly interferes'' standard as set forth in the former Sec. 1.111(b); (4) a requirement that the submission be a bona fide attempt to advance prosecution; (5) an explanation of the need for the continued examination filing; (6) a reasonable justification standard; (7) a reasonable under the circumstances standard; or (8) a good cause standard. One of the comments stated that a good cause standard would not place an undue burden on the Office or prejudice the public. Additionally, the comment requested that an application filed for good cause should not count toward the single continued examination filing as a matter of right. Response: The Office considers the standard that the amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) appropriate for an additional continued examination filing. The standard set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) as adopted in this final rule (``a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted [earlier]'') is more definite than the alternatives suggested in the comments (e.g., ``good cause'' and ``reasonable under the circumstances'') and other standards set forth in the patent statutes (see e.g., Smith v. Mossinghoff, 671 F.2d 533, 538, 213 U.S.P.Q. 977, 982 (DC Cir. 1982) (noting the absence of guidance concerning the meaning of the term ``unavoidable'' in 35 U.S.C. 133)). The comments do not provide an explanation as to why any of [[Page 46769]] these alternatives would be a more effective standard or more definite. Furthermore, Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114(g) as adopted in this final rule do not set an absolute limit on the number of continued examination filings. Applicants are permitted to file two continuation or continuation-in-part applications and one request for continued examination without any justification. Applicants are also permitted to file any third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or second or subsequent request for continued examination with a petition and showing. If an amendment, argument, or evidence could have been submitted during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications, or a request for continued examination, applicant must present such submission earlier rather than wait to submit it later in a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or in a request for continued examination. Thus, the required showing is an appropriate standard. Finally, as discussed further in this final rule, the Office may grant relief ``in an extraordinary situation'' in which ``justice requires'' even if the situation does not technically meet the standard that the amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. See Sec. 1.183. The Office, however, does not anticipate granting petitions under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) on a basis other than a showing that the amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. Comment 70: Several comments suggested that the changes to Sec. 1.78 should only be temporary so that the Office may assess the impact of the changes before adopting the rule. One comment also suggested that if the Office adopts the rule changes, the Office should eliminate the changes once the backlog decreases. Response: Unrestricted continued examination filings and duplicative applications that contain patentably indistinct claims are significantly hindering the Office's ability to examine new applications to such an extent that it is necessary for the Office to adopt and implement the changes to these practices. After the implementation of the changes being adopted in this final rule, the Office will re-evaluate the rules of practice to determine what, if any, additional changes are necessary. Comment 71: Several comments suggested that Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 should be revised from ``a showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence presented could not have been previously submitted'' to ``a showing as to why the new claim, amendment, argument, or evidence presented could not have been previously submitted'' to resolve any potential ambiguity in the rules. Response: The Office notes the comments' concern for ambiguity in the language of the rules. The phrase, ``a showing * * * that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted'' (emphasis added) inherently encompasses a showing as to why a new claim could not have been previously submitted. A new claim presented in a continuing application is considered to be an amendment to the claims of the prior-filed application. Thus, by using the word ``amendment'' in the standard of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g), the Office intended to capture new claims sought to be introduced in a third or subsequent continuation or continuation-in- part application or second or subsequent request for continued examination. Comment 72: One comment recommended that the Office should only require a petition and showing if the claims are presented more than two years after the earliest filing date claimed. Response: Sections 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 as adopted in this final rule provide applicant sufficient opportunities to present claims during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination in an application family without a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g). The prosecution of these applications and the request for continued examination, most likely, would extend more than two years from the earliest claimed filing date. Therefore, the suggestion, if adopted, would likely increase the number of applicants who would be required to file a petition and showing. Comment 73: Several comments proposed an exception to the rule changes to permit applicant to file a continuing application or a request for continued examination as a matter of right, without requiring a petition and showing, if the prior application is abandoned prior to examination. Response: As suggested, the Office has made modifications to the proposed provisions to provide that an applicant may file a continuation or continuation-in-part application without any justification in certain situations in which the prior-filed application was abandoned prior to examination. Section 1.78(d)(1)(v) as adopted in this final rule provides that if an applicant files a continuation or continuation-in-part application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53 (i.e., the prior-filed application became abandoned due to the failure to timely reply to an Office notice issued under Sec. 1.53(f)), the applicant may file ``one more'' continuation or continuation-in-part application without a petition and showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi). Thus, applicant may file a continuation or continuation-in-part application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53. The prior- filed nonprovisional application, however, must be entitled to a filing date and have paid therein the basic filing fee within the pendency of the application. See Sec. 1.78(d)(2). Comment 74: Several comments suggested the Office should include exceptions to the petition requirement of Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 to permit applicant to file a continuing application or a request for continued examination as a matter of right, without requiring a petition and showing, in the following situations: (1) Some of the claims in the prior-filed application have been allowed and the continuation application contains only claims that were rejected in the prior-filed application; (2) the continuation application contains claims to an unclaimed invention disclosed in the prior-filed application; (3) the continuing application is claiming an independent and distinct invention; (4) the continuing application claims species or subgenus that falls within a generic claim that has been allowed or issued in one of the prior-filed applications; (5) the continued examination filing is filed for the purposes of submitting newly discovered prior art or amendments or evidence in view of the newly discovered prior art; (6) the continued examination filing is filed after an unsuccessful appeal; (7) a divisional application of an application that was subject to a restriction requirement is filed for the purposes of claiming the non-elected inventions; (8) the continuation application includes claims that were canceled in the prior-filed application; (9) the applicant certifies that the filing is done in good faith to advance prosecution and without deceptive intent; (10) the continued examination filing is filed for submitting evidence or an amendment to overcome a final rejection; (11) a continuation or continuation-in-part is filed to overcome a lack of utility rejection; (12) the continued [[Page 46770]] examination filing is filed to submit a declaration under Sec. 1.131 or 1.132; (13) the continued examination filing is filed to submit data or other evidence not available for submission in the parent application to obviate a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 101 or 112, ] 1 (e.g., for lack of utility or enablement); (14) the continued examination filing is filed to respond to an examiner's request for additional information; (15) the continued examination filing is filed to respond to a new ground of rejection; (16) the prior-filed application was abandoned in favor of a continuing application that is filed using the Office electronic filing system; and (17) a request for continued examination is filed via the Office electronic filing system. One comment stated that if Congress does not eliminate 35 U.S.C. 135(b)(2), the need to copy claims from published applications should be exempt from the limit of continued examination filings in an application as a matter of right. Response: The Office notes the concerns expressed in the public comment regarding the proposed changes to Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 that would have required applicant to file a petition and showing for a second or subsequent continuation or continuation-in-part application or request for continued examination. The Office has modified these proposed changes such that this final rule permits an applicant to file two continuation applications or continuation-in-part applications, plus a single request for continued examination in an application family, without any justification. Other than the situations provided in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv) and (d)(1)(v), this final rule permits that a third or subsequent continuing application or any second or subsequent request for continued examination to be filed with a petition and a showing as to why the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been previously submitted. Sections 1.78(d)(1)(iv) and (d)(1)(v) provide that applicant may file ``one more'' continuation or continuation-in-part application without a petition and showing in certain situations. Specifically, Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv) pertains to the situation where an applicant files a bypass continuation or continuation-in-part application rather than paying the basic national fee (entering the national stage) in an international application in which a Demand for international preliminary examination (PCT Article 31) has not been filed, and the international application does not claim the benefit of any other nonprovisional application or international application designating the United States of America. See the discussion of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(iv). Section 1.78(d)(1)(v) pertains to the situation where an applicant files a continuation or continuation-in-part application to correct informalities rather than completing an application for examination under Sec. 1.53. See the discussion of Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(v). The Office will decide petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) based on their substantive argument and the facts in the record and apply the standard in a consistent manner. There are no situations that will result in a per se or pro forma grant of a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g). Whether specific situations would be a sufficient showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g) is discussed in the responses to subsequent comments. Comment 75: Several comments opposed the $400 fee for filing a petition under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114. The comments indicated that the proposed petition fee of $400 is unnecessarily high, especially in view of the filing fees. Furthermore, the comments argued that it is unfair to require the submission of a costly fee and a time- consuming petition regardless of the reason for filing the continuing application or request for continued examination. One other comment stated that the proposed petition fee does not cover the amount of work required to determine if applicant's showing is sufficient to meet the requirements in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114. Another comment questioned why an applicant must pay a petition fee of $400 when filing an additional continuation-in-part application simply to add new matter. Response: The Office considers $400 to be an appropriate fee for filing a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g). 35 U.S.C. 41(d) authorizes the Director to establish fees to recover the estimated average cost to the Office for handling, reviewing and deciding petitions. The Office has determined that the average cost to the Office for handling, reviewing and deciding the petitions under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) will be at least $400. As previously discussed, applicants most likely will be able to avoid the requirements for filing a petition and the required fee if applicants diligently prosecute applications (including the continuing applications and a request for continued examination permitted under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114(f) without any petition). If an applicant desires to file an application simply to claim new subject matter, the applicant may file a new application (rather than a continuation-in-part application) without claiming the benefit of the prior-filed applications and avoid paying the $400 petition fee. As discussed previously, claims to new subject matter will not be entitled to any benefit of the prior-filed application that does not provide support under 35 U.S.C. 112, ] 1, for the claimed subject matter and the patent term of any resulting patent of the continuation-in-part application would be measured from the filing date of the prior-filed application. Comment 76: One comment requested that the Office waive the requirement for a petition fee if applicant submits new art from a foreign search report or related application or files an amendment in response to new arguments made by the examiner. Response: A petition, the appropriate showing, and the fee set forth in Sec. 1.17(f) are required under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g) when applicant files a third or subsequent continuing application or a second or subsequent request for continued examination regardless of the reason for such a filing. In addition, a request to submit new art from a foreign search report or related application is not likely to be a sufficient showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g) (see discussion relating to the filing of continuing applications and requests for continued examination to obtain consideration of an information disclosure statement). Likewise, the mere fact that the examiner made new arguments or a new ground of rejection in a final Office action would not be considered a sufficient showing. The Office will decide each petition on a case-by-case basis focusing on whether the new ground of rejection in the final Office action could have been anticipated by the applicant. Comment 77: Several comments stated that there is no public notice of the criteria the Director will apply to meet the required showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1) or 1.114. A number of comments sought clarification on what type of showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1) or 1.114 would be necessary to permit the filing of an additional continuing application or request for continued examination. A number of comments specifically sought clarification of the phrase, ``could not have been previously submitted,'' in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114 regarding the satisfactory showing needed to be permitted to file an additional continuing application or request for continued examination. A number of other comments suggested that prior to the implementation of the final rule, the Office should publish [[Page 46771]] more specific guidelines such as a non-exclusive set of examples that would constitute a sufficient showing under Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1) and 1.114. In addition, several comments requested that the Office provide an opportunity for public comment on the suggested guidelines. Response: As discussed previously, the standard set forth in Sec. Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) and 1.114(g) as adopted in this final rule (``a showing that the amendment, argument, or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted [earlier]'') is more definite than the alternatives suggested in the comments (e.g., ``good cause'' and ``reasonable under the circumstances'') and other standards set forth in the patent statutes (see e.g., Smith v. Mossinghoff, 671 F.2d 533, 538, 213 U.S.P.Q. 977, 982 (D.C. Cir. 1982) (noting the absence of guidance concerning the meaning of the term ``unavoidable'' in 35 U.S.C. 133)). If an amendment, argument or evidence could be submitted during the prosecution of the initial application, two continuing applications, and a request for continued examination in an application family, applicant must present such an amendment, argument or evidence earlier rather than wait to submit it later in an additional continuing application or request for continued examination. Applicants should not rely upon the availability of additional continuing applications or requests for continued examination in prosecuting an application. The Office will determine on a case-by-case basis whether the applicant's showing as to why the amendment, argument or evidence sought to be entered could not have been submitted earlier is satisfactory. In addition to the showing submitted by the applicant, the Office may review the prosecution history of the initial application and the prior continuing applications or require additional information from the applicant in deciding a petition. The following are some factors that the Office may consider when deciding whether to grant a petition under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g): (1) Whether applicant should file an appeal or a petition under Sec. 1.181 (e.g., to withdraw the finality of an Office action) rather than a continuing application or request for continued examination; (2) the number of applications filed in parallel or serially with substantially identical disclosures; and (3) whether the evidence, amendments, or arguments are being submitted with reasonable diligence. With respect to the first factor (whether applicant should be filing an appeal or a petition under Sec. 1.181 rather than a continuing application or request for continued examination), if the showing under Sec. 1.78(d)(1)(vi) or 1.114(g) relates to an issue that should be petitioned or appealed, the Office will likely not grant the petition for an additional continuing application or request for continued examination. Applicant should address any issues pertaining to inadequate