The PTO's regulations, which limit applicants to filing two new continuing applications and one request for continued examination, were challenged by drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline and an independent inventor, Triantafyllos Tafas. The case is on appeal before a federal appeals court after a district judge decided not to allow the PTO to move forward.

“The patent office has a duty to protect the public interest," CCIA President Ed Black said. "It should be allowed to close procedural loopholes being exploited by some patent applicants to game the system into awarding them broad, vague patents." Read the amicus brief here.