What happens if an applicant fails to respond to a rejection in an interference?
If an applicant fails to respond to a rejection in an interference, the consequences can be severe. According to MPEP 2303:
“Failure to respond to a rejection on the merits in an application subject to an interference will result in a recommendation that the claims of the application be rejected.”
This means that if an applicant doesn’t address rejections made during the interference process, the examiner will likely recommend that the claims be rejected, potentially leading to the loss of patent rights for those claims.
To learn more:
Topics:
MPEP 2300 - Interference And Derivation Proceedings,
MPEP 2303 - Completion Of Examination,
Patent Law,
Patent Procedure