Claim and continuation limit rules preliminarily enjoinedOctober 31, 2007

According to reports, enforcement of the USPTO's new claim and continuation limit rules has been enjoined. Judge James C. Cacheris issued the ruling from the bench after the hearing today on GlaxoSmithKline's motion for preliminary injunction.

We'll have more as it develops, including any orders or decisions issued by the court.

Update: More detail regarding the hearing and arguments from John White over at the PLI blog. A written opinion is expected this afternoon. We'll post it when it's available.

Further update: A USPTO representative offered the following comment when asked by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

Interest shown by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Congress in patent modernization indicates that the system needs change. The USPTO continues to believe that the rules are an important component of modernizing the patent system. They are part of a package of initiatives designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the patent process and move American innovation and our economy forward. This multi-pronged approach is already showing results. Patent examination quality is at a record high. Nearly 97 percent of the patents issued in FY 2007 met stringent independent quality standards, up from about 93 percent in FY 2000. Additionally, last year USPTO’s board of patent appeals upheld examiners decisions to reject patents nearly 70 percent of the time, compared with only 51 percent of the time in FY 2000.

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