How does an examiner determine if a patent under reissue has been adjudicated by a court?

When a reissue application is filed, the examiner takes several steps to determine if the original patent has been adjudicated by a court:

1. The examiner reviews the reissue application for any information provided by the applicant about litigation.
2. The examiner checks the patented file for notices of filing and termination of infringement suits, which are required to be filed by federal district court clerks.
3. A litigation search is requested to determine if the patent has been or is involved in litigation.

The MPEP states: “When a reissue application is filed, the examiner should determine whether the original patent has been adjudicated by a court. The decision(s) of the court, and also other papers in the suit, may provide information essential to the examination of the reissue.”

Examiners may use resources such as Shepard’s Federal Citations and the United States Patents Quarterly digests to find published decisions concerning the patent.

To learn more:

• patent examination
• reissue application
• litigation search
• court adjudication