Patent Law | Expert Legal Commentary
May 18, 2009
Tafas v. Doll: Limits on Continuations Invalid; Other Claim Limits May Be OK
Tafas v. Doll
By
Yuri Mikulka and Spyros J. Lazaris
The Federal Circuit largely upheld rules promulgated by the PTO to help relieve its enormous backlog of patent applications. The district court had determined that the rules were substantive and therefore beyond the PTO’s legal authority. In Tafas v. Doll, 559 F.3d 1345 (Fed. Cir. 2009), a split Federal Circuit panel disagreed, finding the rules to be procedural in nature, though it did not reverse the district court. Instead, it affirmed the district court ruling as to one of the four rules in question because it conflicted with the statute, and remanded the case for further inquiry into the legality of method and manner in which the other rules were promulgated. The PTO’s rules have been the subject of much debate in the patent community, and most expect the case to proceed to an en banc rehearing.
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