42.200    Procedure; pendency.

  • (a) A post-grant review is a trial subject to the procedures set forth in subpart A of this part.
  • (b) A claim in an unexpired patent shall be given its broadest reasonable construction in light of the specification of the patent in which it appears.
  • (c) A post-grant review proceeding shall be administered such that pendency before the Board after institution is normally no more than one year. The time can be extended by up to six months for good cause by the Chief Administrative Patent Judge, or adjusted by the Board in the case of joinder.
  • (d) Interferences commenced before September 16, 2012, shall proceed under part 41  of this chapter except as the Chief Administrative Patent Judge, acting on behalf of the Director, may otherwise order in the interests-of-justice.
[Applicability Note: Subpart C (Post-Grant Review) generally applies to patents issuing from applications subject to first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA. In addition, the Chief Administrative Patent Judge may, in the interests-of-justice, order an interference commenced before September 16, 2012 to be dismissed without prejudice to the filing of a petition for post-grant review. See § 42.200(d) and the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, Public Law 112-29, sec. 6(f)(3)(A).] [Added, 77 FR 48680, Aug. 14, 2012, effective Sept. 16, 2012]