State of Innovation

According to AIPLA the Patent and Trademark Office announced October 8, 2009, that it will rescind the claiming and continuations rules package that have been the subject of litigation in Tafas v. Kappos.  GlaxoSmithKline and the USPTO, parties to the litigation, have agreed to request the Federal Circuit to dismiss the appeal in that case and to vacate the district court decision below.

This is excellent news and shows that Director Kappos is listening to the patent community.  These rules would have been disastrous for independent inventors and start-up companies.  They also would have increased the pendency time for patent applications.  Hopefully this is a further sign that Director Kappos intends to undue the reprehensible damage Director Dudas did the USPTO.