04/04/08
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The court ruled that the PTO went beyond its power to make procedural changes and veered into the realm of substantive changes. |
The reason this was done, though, was to reduce the number of claims and continuations in a patent application. Claims help define a patent, while continuations are used to amend patent claims and contest rejected patent claims. Critics claimed that these limitations would mean more complex patents would lose substance. Not coincidentally, more complex patent applications mean more work for lawyers — and simple ones mean less work.
The court ruled that the PTO went beyond its power to make procedural changes and veered into the realm of substantive changes, which it can't do. So the changes will have to be addressed by Congress.
In the meantime, the patent lawyers stay fully employed, much to their relief.
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