How is the list of cited prior art documents made available after reexamination?
After a patent reexamination is completed, the list of cited prior art documents is made available to the public. According to MPEP 2657:
“A notice will be printed on the reexamination certificate to state that the list of cited prior art documents will be available via PAIR by the reexamination control number.”
This means that interested parties can access the list of prior art considered during the reexamination through the USPTO’s Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system using the specific reexamination control number.
To learn more:
Topics:
MPEP 2600 - Optional Inter Partes Reexamination,
MPEP 2657 - Listing Of Prior Art,
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure