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Commissioner, all the divisions of a reissue will issue simultaneously; if there be any controversy as to one division, the others will be withheld from issue until the controversy is ended, unless the Commissioner shall otherwise order.

178. Original patent. The application for a reissue must be accompanied by an offer to surrender the original patent. The application should also be accompanied by the original patent, or if the original is lost or inaccessible, by an affidavit to that effect. The application may be accepted for examination in the absence of the original patent or the affidavit, but one or the other must be supplied before the case is allowed. If a reissue be refused, the original patent will be returned to applicant upon his request.

179. Notice of reissue application. When an application for a reissue is filed, there will be placed in the file of the original patent a notice stating that an application for reissue has been filed. When the reissue is granted or the reissue application is otherwise terminated, the fact will be added to the notice in the file of the original patent.

PETITIONS AND ACTION BY THE COMMISSIONER

181. Petition to the Commissioner. (a) Petition may be taken to the Commissioner (1) from any action or requirement of any examiner in the ex parte prosecution of an application which is not subject to appeal to the Board of Appeals or to the court; (2) in cases in which a statute or the rules specify that the matter is to be determined directly by or reviewed by the Commissioner; and (3) to invoke the supervisory authority of the Commissioner in appropriate circumstances.

(b) Any such petition must contain a statement of the facts involved and the point or points to be reviewed and the action requested. Briefs or memoranda, if any, in support thereof should accompany or be embodied in the petition; and where facts are to be proven, the proof in the form of affidavits (and exhibits, if any) must accompany the petition.

(c) When a petition is taken from an action or requirement of an examiner in the ex parte prosecution of an application, it may be required that there have been a proper request for reconsideration (rule 111) and a repeated action by the examiner. The examiner may be directed by the Commissioner to furnish a written statement, within a specified time, setting forth the reasons for his decision upon the matters averred in the petition, supplying a copy thereof to the petitioner.

(d) No fee is required for a petition to the Commissioner except in the case of a petition to revive an abandoned application (rule 137) or for the delayed payment of a final fee (rule 317).

(e) Oral hearing will not be granted except when considered necessary by the Commissioner.

(f) The mere filing of a petition will not stay the period for replying to an examiner's action which may be running against an application, nor act as a stay of other proceedings.

(g) Determination of petitions of various kinds may be delegated by the Commissioner to the Supervisory Examiners or to the Solicitor and Law Examiners.

182. Questions not specifically provided for. All cases not specifically provided for in these rules will be decided in accordance with the merits of each case by or under the authority of the Commissioner, and such decision will be communicated to the interested parties in writing.

183. Suspension of rules. In an extraordinary situation, when justice requires any requirement of these rules which is not a requirement of the statutes may be suspended or waived by the Commissioner in person on petition of the interested party, subject to such other requirements as may be imposed.

184. Reconsideration of cases decided by former Commissioners. Cases which have been decided by one Commissioner will not be reconsidered by his successor except in accordance with the principles which govern the granting of new trials.

APPEAL TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS

191. Appeal to Board of Appeals. (a) Every applicant for a patent or for reissue of a patent, any of the claims of which have been twice rejected, or who has been given a final rejection (rule 113), may, upon the payment of the fee required by law, appeal from the decision of the primary examiner to the Board of Appeals within the time allowed for response.

(b) The appeal must identify the rejected claim or claims appealed, and must be signed by the applicant or his duly authorized attorney or agent.

(c) Except as otherwise provided by rule 206, appeal when taken must be taken from the rejection of all claims under rejection which applicant proposes to contest. Questions relating to matters not affecting the merits of the invention may be required to be settled before an appeal can be considered.

35 U. S. C. 7. Board of Appeals. The examiners-in-chief shall be persons of competent legal knowledge and scientific ability. The Commissioner, the assistant commissioners, and the examiners-in-chief shall constitute a Board of Appeals, which, or written appeal of the applicant, shall review adverse decisions of examiners upon applications for patents. Each appeal shall be heard by at least three members of the Board of Appeals, the members hearing such appeal to be designated by the Commissioner. The Board of Appeals has sole power to grant

rehearings.

Whenever the Commissioner considers it necessary to maintain the work of the Board of Appeals current, he may designate any patent examiner of the primary examiner grade or higher, having the requisite ability, to serve as examiner-in-chief for periods not exceeding six months each. An examiner so designated shall be qualified to act as a member of the Board of Appeals. Not more than one such primary examiner shall be a member of the Board of Appeals hearing an appeal.

35 U. S. C. 134. Appeal to the Board of Appeals. An applicant for a patent, any of whose claims has been twice rejected, may appeal from the decision of the primary examiner to the Board of Appeals, having once paid the fee for such appeal.

192. Appellant's brief. The appellant shall, within sixty days from the date of the appeal, or within the time allowed for response to the action appealed from if such time is later, file a brief of the authorities and arguments on which he will rely to maintain his appeal, including a concise explanation of the invention and a copy of the claims involved, at the same time indicating if he desires an oral hearing. Two extra copies of the brief are required if an oral hearing is requested.

On failure to file the brief within the time allowed, the appeal shall stand dismissed.

193. Examiner's answer. (a) The primary examiner may, within such time as may be directed by the Commissioner, furnish a written statement in answer to the appellant's brief including such explanation of the invention claimed and of the references and grounds of rejection as may be necessary, supplying a copy to the appellant. If the primary examiner shall find that the appeal is not regular in form or does not relate to an appealable action, he shall so state and a petition from such decision may be taken to the Commissioner as provided in rule 181.

(b) The appellant may file a reply brief directed only to such new points of argument as may be raised in the examiner's answer, within twenty days from the date of such answer. However, if the examiner's answer states a new ground of rejection appellant may file a reply thereto within sixty days from the date of such answer; such reply may include any amendment or material appropriate to the new ground.

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194. Hearing. If no request for oral hearing has been made by the appellant, the appeal will be assigned for consideration and decision. If the appellant has requested an oral hearing, a day of hearing will be set, and due notice thereof given to the appellant. Hearing will be held as stated in the notice, and oral argument will be limited to one-half hour unless otherwise ordered before the hearing begins.

195. Affidavits after appeal. Affidavits or exhibits submitted after the case has been appealed will not be admitted without a showing of good and sufficient reasons why they were not earlier presented.

196. Decision by the Board of Appeals. (a) The Board of Appeals, in its decision, may affirm or reverse the decision of the primary examiner in whole or in part on the grounds and on the claims specified by the examiner. The affirmance of the rejection of a claim on any of the grounds specified constitutes a general affirmance of the decision of the primary examiner on that claim, except as to any ground specifically reversed.

(b) Should the Board of Appeals have knowledge of any grounds not involved in the appeal for rejecting any claim, it may include in its decision a statement to that effect with its reasons for so holding, which statement shall constitute a rejection of the claims. The appellant may submit an appropriate amendment of the claims so rejected or a showing of facts, or both, and have the matter reconsidered by the primary examiner. The statement shall be binding upon the primary examiner unless an amendment or showing of facts not previously of record be made which, in the opinion of the primary examiner, avoids the additional ground for rejection stated in the decision. The applicant may waive such reconsideration before the primary examiner and have the case reconsidered by the Board of Appeals upon the same record before them. Where request for such reconsideration is made the Board of Appeals shall, if necessary, render a new decision which shall include all grounds upon which a patent is refused. The applicant may waive reconsideration by the Board of Appeals and treat the decision, including the added grounds for rejection given by the Board of Appeals, as a final decision in the case.

(c) Should the decision of the Board of Appeals include an explicit statement that a claim may be allowed in amended form, applicant shall have the right to amend in conformity with such statement, which shall be binding on the primary examiner in the absence of new references or grounds of rejection.

197. Action following decision.

After decision by the Board of Appeals, the case shall be returned to the primary examiner, subject to the applicant's right of appeal or other review, for such further action by the applicant or by the primary examiner, as the condition of the case may require, to carry into effect the decision.

Any request or petition for rehearing or reconsideration, or modification of the decision, must be filed within thirty days from the date of the original decision, unless that decision is so modified as to become, in effect, a new decision, and the Board of Appeals so states.

When an appeal is or stands dismissed, or when the time for appeal to the court or review by civil action (rule 304) has expired and no such appeal or civil action has been filed, proceedings in the application are considered terminated as of the dismissal or expiration date except in those applications in which claims stand allowed or in which the nature of the decision requires further action by the Examiner. If an appeal to the court or a civil action has been filed, proceedings in the application are similarly considered terminated when the appeal or civil action is terminated.

198. Reopening after decision.

Cases which have been decided

by the Board of Appeals will not be reopened or reconsidered by the primary examiner, except under the provisions of rule 196, without the written authority of the Commissioner, and then only for the consideration of matters not already adjudicated, sufficient cause being shown.

INTERFERENCES: DEFINITION, PREPARATION,

DECLARATION

201. Definition, when declared. (a) An interference is a proceeding instituted for the purpose of determining the question of priority of invention between two or more parties claiming substantially the same patentable invention and may be instituted as soon as it is determined that common patentable subject matter is claimed in a plurality of applications or in an application and a patent.

(b) An interference will be declared between pending applications for patent or for reissue of different parties when such applications contain claims for substantially the same invention which are allowable in the application of each party, and interferences will also be declared between pending applications for patent, or for reissue, and unexpired original or reissued patents, of different parties, when such applications and patents contain claims for substantially the same invention which are allowable in all of the applications involved, in accordance with the provisions of these rules.

(c) Interferences will not be declared, nor continued, between applications or applications and patents owned by the same party unless

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