406.05(b) Application of Limit: Sets of Requests for Production
The numerical limit specified in37 C.F.R. § 2.120(e) pertains to the total number of requests for production of documents and things that one party may serve on another party over the course of an entire proceeding, not just per set of production requests. Thus, if a party to a proceeding before the Board serves, over the course of the proceeding, two or more separate sets of requests for production directed to the same party, the requests in the separate sets would be added together for purposes of determining whether the numerical limit specified in the rule has been exceeded. [ Note 1.]
Accordingly, a party which is preparing a first set of requests for production should consider reserving a portion of its allotted 75 requests for production (counting subparts) to use for follow-up discovery, unless it is sure that it will not be serving follow-up requests.
NOTES:
1. Cf. Baron Phillippe De Rothschild S.A. v. S. Rothschild & Co., 16 USPQ2d 1466, 1467 (TTAB 1990) (interrogatories).