What is the purpose of filing multiple terminal disclaimers?
Filing multiple terminal disclaimers may be necessary when there are multiple conflicting patents or pending applications that could result in nonstatutory double patenting rejections. The purposes of filing multiple terminal disclaimers include:
- Avoiding multiple terminal disclaimer fees
- Addressing all potential nonstatutory double patenting issues
- Preventing dual ownership problems
- Ensuring consistent enforcement of patents to patentably indistinct inventions
MPEP 804.02 advises: “To avoid paying multiple terminal disclaimer fees, a single terminal disclaimer based on common ownership may be filed, for example, in which the term disclaimed is based on all the conflicting, commonly owned nonstatutory double patenting references.“
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