What happens if a patent owner fails to notify the Office of prior or concurrent proceedings?

If a patent owner fails to notify the Office of prior or concurrent proceedings as required by 37 CFR 1.985, there can be serious consequences. According to MPEP 2282:

“Where the patent owner has not complied with the notice requirement of 37 CFR 1.985, and the reexamination proceeding is concluded by the issuance and publication of a reexamination certificate, the certificate will be issued and published without consideration of the information concerning the concurrent proceeding.”

This means that the reexamination certificate may be issued without taking into account potentially relevant information from the concurrent proceeding, which could affect the validity or scope of the patent claims.

To learn more:

• patent owner
• notification
• concurrent proceedings
• reexamination certificate