What is the process for rejecting previously allowed claims in patent examination?

The process for rejecting previously allowed claims involves the following steps:

• The examiner must obtain approval from the supervisory patent examiner (SPE) before rejecting a previously allowed claim.
• The examiner should clearly explain the reasons for the rejection in the Office action.
• The applicant must be given a non-final Office action with a new ground of rejection, unless the rejection is necessitated by an IDS filed in the allowed application.

As stated in MPEP 706.04: Great care should be exercised in making such a rejection.

To learn more:

• patent examination
• claim rejection
• previously allowed claims
• SPE approval