How does copying patent claims affect the periods for reply in a patent application?

When claims are copied from a patent into an application with an unanswered rejection of record, it creates a situation with two different periods for reply. According to MPEP 710.04(a):

“Where, in an application in which there is an unanswered rejection of record, claims are copied from a patent and all of these claims are rejected there results a situation where two different periods for reply are running against the application.”

In this scenario:

• The first period is the regular statutory period of the unanswered rejection of record.
• The second period is the limited period set for reply to the rejection of the copied claims (either first or final).
• The controlling date for the statutory period is the date of the last unanswered Office action on the claims other than the copied patent claims.

To learn more:

• patent application
• reply periods
• copied claims
• unanswered rejection
• statutory period