Does an interference judgment prevent an examiner from making new rejections?
No, an interference judgment does not prevent an examiner from making new rejections. The MPEP clearly states: An interference judgment simply resolves any question of priority between the two parties to the interference. The judgment does not prevent the examiner from making a rejection in further examination in the same application or a different application.
This means that while the interference judgment resolves priority issues between the parties involved, it does not limit the examiner’s ability to apply new rejections based on prior art or other patentability criteria. The examiner retains the authority to conduct a thorough examination and make rejections as necessary, even after an interference proceeding has concluded.
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