41.3    Petitions.

  • (a) Deciding official. Petitions must be addressed to the Chief Administrative Patent Judge. A panel or an administrative patent judge may certify a question of policy to the Chief Administrative Patent Judge for decision. The Chief Administrative Patent Judge may delegate authority to decide petitions.
  • (b) Scope. This section covers petitions on matters pending before the Board (§§ 41.35, 41.64, 41.103, and 41.205 ); otherwise, see §§ 1.181  to 1.183  of this title. The following matters are not subject to petition:
    • (1) Issues committed by statute to a panel, and
    • (2) In pending contested cases, procedural issues. See § 41.121(a)(3)  and § 41.125(c).
  • (c) Petition fee. The fee set in § 41.20(a)  must accompany any petition under this section except no fee is required for a petition under this section seeking supervisory review.
  • (d) Effect on proceeding. The filing of a petition does not stay the time for any other action in a Board proceeding.
  • (e) Time for action.
    • (1) Except as otherwise provided in this part or as the Board may authorize in writing, a party may:
      • (i) File the petition within 14 days from the date of the action from which the party is requesting relief, and
      • (ii) File any request for reconsideration of a petition decision within 14 days of the decision on petition or such other time as the Board may set.
    • (2) A party may not file an opposition or a reply to a petition without Board authorization.
[Added, 69 FR 49959, Aug. 12, 2004, effective Sept. 13, 2004; para. (e)(1) revised, 69 FR 58260, Sept. 30, 2004, effective Sept. 30, 2004]