MPEP 1204: Difference between revisions

1204 Notice of Appeal

I. APPEAL BY PATENT APPLICANT

Under 37 CFR 41.31(a)(1), an applicant for a patent dissatisfied with the primary examiner’s decision in the second rejection of his or her claims may appeal to the Board for review of the examiner’s rejection by filing a notice of appeal and the required fee set forth in 37 CFR 41.20(b)(1) within the time period provided under 37 CFR 1.134 and 1.136. A notice of appeal may be filed after any of the claims has been twice rejected, regardless of whether the claim(s)

has/have been finally rejected. The limitation of “twice rejected” does not have to be related to a particular application.See Ex Parte Lemoine, 46 USPQ2d 1420, 1423 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter. 1994) (“so long as the applicant has twice been denied a patent, an appeal may be filed”). For example, if any claim was rejected in a parent application, and the claim is again rejected in a continuing application, then applicant can choose to file an appeal in the continuing application, even if the claim was rejected only once in the continuing application. Applicant cannot file an appeal in a continuing application, or after filing a request for continued examination (RCE) under 37 CFR 1.114, until the application is under a rejection. Accordingly, applicant cannot file a notice of appeal with an RCE regardless of whether the application has been twice rejected prior to the filing of the RCE.

Although the rules do not require that the notice of appeal identify the rejected claim(s) appealed, or be signed, applicants may file notices of appeal which identify the appealed claims and are signed. It should be noted that the elimination of the requirement to sign a notice of appeal does not affect the requirements for other papers (such as an amendment under 37 CFR 1.116) submitted with the notice, or for other actions contained within the notice, e.g., an authorization to charge fees to a deposit account or to a credit card, to be signed. See MPEP § 509. Thus, failure to sign the notice of appeal may have unintended adverse consequences; for example, if an unsigned notice of appeal contains an (unsigned) authorization to charge the notice of appeal fee to a deposit account, the notice of appeal will be unacceptable because the notice of appeal fee is lacking.

The notice of appeal must be filed within the period for reply set in the last Office action, which is normally 3 months for applications. See MPEP § 714.13. For example, failure to remove all grounds of rejection and otherwise place an application in condition for allowance or to file an appeal after final rejection will result in the application becoming abandoned, even if one or more claims have been allowed, except where claims suggested for interference have been copied. The notice of appeal and appropriate fee may be filed up to 6 months from the date of the Office action (e.g., a final rejection) from which the appeal was taken, so long as an appropriate petition and fee for an extension of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) is filed either prior to or with the notice of appeal.

The use of a separate letter containing the notice of appeal is strongly recommended. Form PTO/SB/31 may be used for filing a notice of appeal. Appellant must file an appeal brief in compliance with 37 CFR 41.37 accompanied by the fee set forth in 37 CFR 41.20(b)(2) within two months from the date of filing the notice of appeal. See MPEP § 1205.

II. APPEAL BY PATENT OWNER

37 CFR 41.31(a)(2) and (a)(3) provides for appeal to the Board by the patent owner from any decision in an ex parte reexamination proceeding adverse to patentability, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 306 and 35 U.S.C. 134. See also MPEP § 2273.

In an ex parte reexamination filed before November 29, 1999, the patent owner may appeal to the Board after the second rejection of the claims.

In an ex parte reexamination filed on or after November 29, 1999, the patent owner may appeal to the Board only after the final rejection of one or more claims in the particular reexamination proceeding for which appeal is sought.

The fee for filing the notice of appeal by a patent owner is set forth in 37 CFR 41.20(b)(1), and the time period to pay the fee is determined as provided in 37 CFR 1.134 and 37 CFR 1.550(c).

Failure to file an appeal in an ex parte reexamination proceeding will result in issuance of the reexamination certificate under 37 CFR 1.570.

Appeals to the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences in inter partes reexamination proceedings filed under 35 U.S.C. 311 are governed by 37 CFR 41.60 through 41.81. 37 CFR 41.30 through 41.54 are not applicable to appeals in inter partes reexamination proceedings. See MPEP § 2674 to § 2683 for appeals in inter partes reexamination proceedings.

The use of a separate letter containing the notice of appeal is strongly recommended.

III. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The Office does not acknowledge receipt of a notice of appeal by separate letter. However, if a self- addressed postcard is included with the notice of appeal, it will be date stamped and mailed.

Appellant may also check the status of the application and the receipt date of the notice of appeal on the Office’s Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system via the Internet.

IV. DEFECTIVE NOTICE OF APPEAL

If a notice of appeal is defective, the Office will notify the applicant of the non-compliance. A notice of appeal is not a proper reply to the last Office action if none of the claims in the application has been twice rejected. A notice of appeal is defective if it was not timely filed within the time period set forth in the last Office action, or the notice of appeal fee set forth in 37 CFR 41.20(b)(1) was not timely filed. Form PTOL-461 (Rev. 9-04 or later), Communication Re: Appeal, should be used to indicate defects in a notice of appeal.

When appellant files an appeal brief without filing a notice of appeal first, the Office should treat the appeal brief as a notice of appeal and an appeal brief. For this situation, appellant must file the brief within the time period for reply set forth in the last Office action and the fees under 37 CFR 41.20(b)(1) and (b)(2) for filing a notice of appeal and an appeal brief in compliance with 37 CFR 41.31 and 41.37.

1204.01 Reinstatement of Appeal

If an appellant wishes to reinstate an appeal after prosecution is reopened, appellant must file a new notice of appeal in compliance with 37 CFR 41.31 and a complete new appeal brief in compliance with 37 CFR 41.37. Any previously paid appeal fees set forth in 37 CFR 41.20 for filing a notice of appeal, filing an appeal brief, and requesting an oral hearing (if applicable) will be applied to the new appeal on the same application as long as a final Board decision has not been made on the prior appeal. If, however, the appeal fees have increased since they were previously paid, then appellant must pay the difference between the current fee(s) and the amount previously paid. Appellant must file a complete new appeal brief in compliance with the format and content requirements of 37 CFR 41.37(c) within two months from the date of filing the new notice of appeal. See MPEP § 1205.