Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research v. Iancu, No. 18-2031 (Fed. Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseThe patent term length is 20 years from the effective filing date of the application, 35 U.S.C. 154. Applicants are compensated for three classes of prosecution delay: a “B Delay” generally entitles the applicant to patent term adjustment (PTA) for each day the application is pending beyond three years. Limitations reduce PTA for "time during which the applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution.” Mayo’s 310 application had a November 1999, effective filing date. The PTO issued a final rejection for anticipation (757 patent) in October 2010. In September 2011, Mayo requested continued examination (RCE) arguing that Mayo had priority of invention over the 757 patent. Mayo cancelled certain claims and pursued them in a separate continuation application, which later issued as the 927 patent. In February 2012, an interference was declared. In February 2014, the Board awarded priority to Mayo’s 310 application and canceled the 757 patent. In June 2014, an examiner rejected the 310 application, citing double patenting in view of the 927 patent. Mayo argued that the claims were patentably distinct. The examiner mailed a Notice of Allowance in November 2014. The 310 application issued as the 063 patent in March 2015. The PTO calculated 621 days of PTA, with no B Delay. Mayo claimed 685 days, arguing the examiner’s reopening of prosecution after termination of the interference was not RCE under 35 U.S.C. 154(b)(1)(B)(i). The PTO concluded that RCE time (which is deducted from B Delay) did not end when the interference was declared, but instead when the Notice of Allowance was mailed. The Federal Circuit affirmed, upholding the PTO’s interpretation of “any time consumed by continued examination of the application requested by the applicant under section 132(b),” 35 U.S.C. 154(b)(1)(B)(i).
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