U.S. patent law[]
A continued application is a patent application that has been “re-filed” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), commonly following the rejection of some or all of its claims. Continued patent applications allow inventors to extend the period of examination at the USPTO in order to negotiate further with a patent examiner, amend claims, submit new claims, and gain additional time to prepare evidence to be submitted to the USPTO in support of their applications, among other potential benefits.[1]
Under current patent practice, several different types of continued applications exist. A “continuation” application discloses the same subject matter as the original application.[2] A “continuation-in-part” application, or CIP, adds some additional subject matter to the original application.[3] Finally, a “request for continued application,” or RCE, allows applicants to request additional examination of an application without the need to file a continuation application.[4]
References[]
- ↑ See Gary C. Ganzi, “Patent Continuation Practice and Public Notice: Can They Coexist?,” 89 J. of the Patent and Trademark Off. Soc'y 545, 574-80 (July 2007).
- ↑ See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 555, 32 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994) (full-text).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ 35 U.S.C. §132(b).