Intellectual Property
Apr. 18, 2013
Just when you thought it was safe to revive patent applications again
If the decision in Exela Pharma v. Kappos is reversed, then the district court will proceed to scrutinize the statutory basis for revival on the merits, placing the validity of thousands of patents in question.
Joe Liebeschuetz
Partner, Alston & Bird LLP
Every patent prosecutor occasionally abandons an application by mistake. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides a mechanism to revive abandoned applications requiring only an assertion of unintentional abandonment and a fee. Invoking this mechanism involves swallowing one's pride and moderate expense, but no apparent loss of rights. Over 73,000 applications have been revived by this mechanism in the last 30 years.
The routine nature of revival was temporarily distur...
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