GroundRules
37 CFR 1.948: Limitations on submission of prior art by third party requester following the order for inter partes reexamination.
Where this section sits in the code
- Title 37—Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights
- CHAPTER I—UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
- SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL
- PART 1—RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES
- Subpart H—Inter Partes Reexamination of Patents That Issued From an Original Application Filed in the United States on or After November 29, 1999
(a) After the inter partes reexamination order, the third party requester may only cite additional prior art as defined under § 1.501 if it is filed as part of a comments submission under § 1.947 or § 1.951(b) and is limited to prior art:
(1) which is necessary to rebut a finding of fact by the examiner;
(2) which is necessary to rebut a response of the patent owner; or
(3) which for the first time became known or available to the third party requester after the filing of the request for inter partes reexamination proceeding. Prior art submitted under paragraph (a)(3) of this section must be accompanied by a statement as to when the prior art first became known or available to the third party requester and must include a discussion of the pertinency of each reference to the patentability of at least one claim.
(b) [Reserved]
Collected 2026-08-27T02:25:45Z. Source file · JSON