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patent cannot be reissued solely for the purpose of
adding citations of additional prior art.
EXAMINER'S AMENDMENT AND
SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION
When it is necessary to amend the reissue application
in order to place the application in condition for
allowance, the examiner may:
(A) request that applicant provide the amendments
(e.g., by facsimile transmission or by handcarry);
or
(B) make the amendments, with the applicant's
approval, by a formal examiner's amendment.
If the changes are made by a formal examiner's
amendment, the entire paragraph(s) or claim(s) being
amended need not be presented in rewritten form for
any deletions or additions. Changes to the specification
including the claims of an application made by
the Office in an examiner's amendment may be made
by specific instructions to insert or delete subject matter
set forth in the examiner's amendment by identifying
the precise point in the specification or the
claim(s) where the insertion or deletion is to be made.
37 CFR 1.121(g).
If it is necessary to amend a claim or the specification
in order to correct an "error" nnder 35 U.S.C. 251
and thereby place the application in condition for
allowance, then a supplemental oath or. declaration
will be required. See MPEP § 1444. The examiner
should telephone applicant and request the supplemental
oath or declaration, which must be filed before
the application can be counted as an allowance.
FINAL REVIEW OF THE REISSUE
APPLICATION BY THE EXAMINER
Prior to forwarding a reissue application to the
Technology Center (TC) Special Program Examiner
(SPRE) for final review, the examiner should complete
and initial an Examiner Review Checklist. A
copy of the checklist should be available from the
SPRE or from the Paralegal Specialist of the TC.
1456 Reissue Review
All reissue applications are monitored and
reviewed in the Technology Centers (TCs) by the
Office of TC Special Program Examiner (which
includes SPRE, paralegal or other technical support
CORRECTION OF PATENTS 1460
who might be assigned as backup) at several stages
during the prosecution. In order to ensure that SPREs
are aware ofthe reissue applications in their TCs, a
pair of terminal-specific PALM flags have been created
which must be set by the SPRE before certain
PALM transactions can be completed. First, whena
new reissue application enters the TC, a PALM flag
must be set at a SPRE PALM terminal before a docketing
transaction will be accepted. By having to set
this first flag, the SPRE 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 period that
the examiner is handling the reissue application. Fur'
ther, a second PALM flag must be .set at a SPRE
PALM terminal before a Notice of Allowance can be
generated or the PALM transaction for an issue revision
can be entered, thereby ensuring that the SPRE 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
should initial the face of the file wrapper, and forward
the reissue file to the Office of Patent Legal Administration
(OPLA). Along with the reissue file, the file
forthe original 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 deciaratioIl 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.
A patentability review is made in a sample of
reissue applications by the Office of Patent Quality
Review. The screening process and the patentability
review are appropriate vehicles for correcting errors,
identifying problem areas and recognizing trends,
providing information on the uniformity of practice,
and providing feedback to the TCs.
1460 Effect ofReissue
35 U.S.c. 252. Effect ofreissue.
The surrender of the original patent shall take effect upon the
issue of the reissued patent,' and' every reissued patent shallhave
the same effect and operation in law, on the trial of actions for
1400-61 August 2001