1456 Reissue Review [R-7]
All reissue applications are monitored and reviewed in the Technology Centers (TCs) by the Office of TC Special Program Examiners or appropriate Quality Asurance Specialist (QAS) (which includes TC SPREs/QASs, paralegals or other technical support who might be assigned as backup) at several stages during the prosecution. The review by the Office of the TC SPREs/QASs is made to check that practice and procedure unique to reissue has been carried out for the reissue application. In addition , a patentability review is made in a sample of reissue applications by the TC QAS in the manner previously carried out by the former Office of Patent Quality Review. In order to ensure that SPREs/QASs are aware of the reissue applications in their TCs, a pair of terminal-specific PALM flags have been created which must be set by the SPRE/QAS before certain PALM transactions can be completed. First, when a new reissue application enters the TC, a SPRE/QAS must set a PALM "flag" by entering the reissue application number in an Office-wide computer grouping before a docketing transaction will be accepted. By having to set this first flag, the SPRE/QAS is made aware of the assignment of the reissue application to the TC and can take steps, as may be appropriate, to instruct the examiner on reissue-specific procedures before the examination process begins, as well as throughout the examination of the reissue application. Second, the SPRE/QAS must remove the above-described PALM "flag" before a Notice of Allowance can be generated or the PALM transaction for an issue revision can be entered, thereby ensuring that the SPRE/QAS is made aware of when the reissue application is being allowed so that the SPRE may be able to conduct a final review of the reissue application, if appropriate.
When the reissue application has been reviewed and is ready to be released to issue, the TC SPRE/QAS should do the following:
For IFW reissue applications:
The SPRE/QAS should complete the "Final SPRE Review" form. The SPRE/QAS will discard any informal papers that were forwarded to the SPRE/QAS, such as the informal Reissue Check List that was filled out by the examiner. The SPRE/QAS will then forward (message) the reissue file to the Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA). The file for any original paper patent should be forwarded to OPLA.
After leaving the TC, all reissue applications go through a screening process which is currently performed in OPLA. The screening process which includes review of the reissue oath or declaration for compliance with 37 CFR 1.175, review of the presentation and entry of reissue amendments for compliance with 37 CFR 1.173(b), and review of other matters to ensure adherence to current reissue practices. The above-identified review processes are appropriate vehicles for correcting errors, identifying problem areas, recognizing trends, providing information on the uniformity of practice, and providing feedback to the TC personnel responsible for processing and examining reissue applications.