Opinion ID: 726788
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Board's Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Text: 12 Congress has provided that the Commissioner may ... establish regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the conduct of proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office. 35 U.S.C. § 6(a) (1994). Congress has also provided that: 13 Whenever an application is made for a patent which, in the opinion of the Commissioner, would interfere with any pending application, or with any unexpired patent, an interference may be declared and the Commissioner shall give notice of such declaration to the applicants, or applicant and patentee, as the case may be. The Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences shall determine questions of priority of the inventions and may determine questions of patentability. 14 35 U.S.C. § 135(a) (1994). 15 Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 135, Interference 103,096 was redeclared. Appellant does not assert that such declaration was erroneous. Appellant asserts that because he availed himself of 35 U.S.C. § 253 to disclaim the only claim of his patent corresponding to the interference count, the interference should have been dismissed with no adverse judgment against him because the Board had no jurisdiction over the interference as defined by 35 U.S.C. § 135 to enter such an adverse judgment. 16 The language of the statute itself militates against the interpretation that disclaiming all claims relating to a single count in an interference divests the Board of jurisdiction over an interference. Section 135 provides the basis for the Commissioner to declare an interference. Guinn does not dispute that Interference 103,096 was properly declared by the Commissioner. Section 135 also states that the Board shall determine questions of priority after the declaration of an interference. Guinn asserts that his unilateral act of disclaiming claim 9 from the '812 patent can divest the Board of its responsibility to determine the priority question in the interference. The statute does not provide for any such divestment of jurisdiction. 17 We have previously stated that priority issues that have been fully developed before the Board should be resolved by the Board. 18 The Board, by resolving both priority and patentability when these questions are fully presented, settles not only the rights between the parties but also rights of concern to the public. The public interest in the benefits of a patent system is best met by procedures that resolve administratively questions affecting patent validity that arise before the PTO. To do otherwise is contrary to the PTO's mission to grant presumptively valid patents, 35 U.S.C. § 285, and thus disserves the public interest. 19 Perkins v. Kwon, 886 F.2d 325, 328-29, 12 USPQ2d 1308, 1311 (Fed.Cir.1989). 20 We hold that the Board had the authority and the responsibility pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 135(a) to resolve the interference and render judgment against Guinn as a result of his disclaimer of claim 9 of the '812 patent. 21