Is res judicata applicable in patent reexamination proceedings?
No, res judicata (claim preclusion) is generally not applicable in patent reexamination proceedings. MPEP § 2659 states:
“The doctrine of res judicata based on a court holding in an infringement proceeding is not applicable in reexamination proceedings, because the Office was not a party to the litigation.”
This means that even if a court has made a decision in an infringement case, the USPTO is not bound by that decision in a reexamination proceeding because it was not involved in the original litigation.
To learn more:
Topics:
MPEP 2600 - Optional Inter Partes Reexamination,
MPEP 2659 - Res Judicata And Collateral Estoppel In Reexamination Proceedings,
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure