Due to a mounting backlog of cases to be decided before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences, the Patent and Trademark Office has published a new set of rules that are expected to streamline ex parte appeals before the BPAI. The modified rules include several measures intended to simplify and expedite appeals practice, including:
- Changes to several aspects of the content of the appeal brief, such as the removal of the requirements to state the status of claims and amendments, the grounds of rejection to be reviewed, and the evidence and related appeals appendices.
- The presumption that the appellant is appealing all rejected claims in the application, obviating the necessity for an explicit statement of the claims being appealed.
- Removal of the requirement for the Examiner to acknowledge the appeal brief, allowing the Board to have jurisdiction over the appeal upon filing of the brief.
- Changes to the factual situations that constitute a new ground of rejection by the Examiner.
The full content of the changes to the BPAI Final Rules may be found in the Federal Register. The rules are to go into effect on January 23, 2012.
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