Judiciary. The Patent and Trademark Office has filed a notice of appeal in a case involving a dispute over 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. U.S. District Judge James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia ruled last month that the rules were an improper expansion of the PTO's statutory authority. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday and the case will now come before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the panel that hears patent disputes from around the country.
This article appeared in the Saturday, May 10, 2008 edition of National Journal Daily.
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