Appeals Court To Hear High-Profile Patent Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the panel that hears patent disputes from around the country, is slated to examine a high-profile case on Friday involving a dispute over Patent and Trademark Office rules announced last fall aimed at increasing patent system efficiency. 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. Read CongressDaily's recent coverage here and here.
U.S. District Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia decided in April that the rules were an improper expansion of the PTO's statutory authority and the agency took its case to the appellate panel. At the time of the decision, GlaxoSmithKline, which complained that about 100 of its pending applications would be jeopardized, said the lower court's judgment was "in support of innovation across all industries." The PTO believes that its rules are consistent with existing statutes and would strengthen the U.S. patent system for all, an agency spokeswoman said.
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