Sterne Kessler’s Reissue, Reexamination, and Supplemental Examination Practice Tips – March 2025

In the mid-2000s, the U.S. Patent Office (USPTO) determined that reexaminations would be more consistent and legally correct if performed by a centralized set of experienced and specially trained Examiners. As a result, the USPTO formed the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) and staffed it with 15 year+ Examiners and legal experts. Later, after the loss of Inter Partes Reexamination in 2012, the USPTO added all newly filed reissue applications to the CRU Examiner’s regime.

Sterne Kessler’s utility and design reissue, reexamination, and supplemental examination team will share practice tips and insights into prosecuting these proceedings before this specialized examination group within the USPTO.

This month, we discuss the rise of serial challenges from the PTAB and how the Hatch-Waxman Act requires patent term extension for reissued patents to be based on the issue date of the original patent.

In This Issue:

• Does Your Office Post-Grant Strategy Account for the Rise of Serial Challenges Flowing From the PTAB to the CRU?
• Hatch-Waxman Requires Patent Term Extension for Reissued Patents To Be Based on Original Patent