The Proscription Against Broadening Claims in Reissue and Reexamination
March 20, 2006
Conflict Between the Federal Circuit and the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences
88 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc’y 124
Reissue applications and reexamination proceedings provide two mechanisms for the U.S. Patent and Trademark office to alter substantively the content of a U.S. patent following its issue. Both mechanisms were designed to impose strict limits on the patentee's ability to broaden the scope of the claims. These limits were intended to preserve the notice function of patents and to protect the public from additional "discovered" rights.