Opinion ID: 2811842
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: patent term adjustments

Text: The patent term adjustment statute, 35 U.S.C. § 154, has two provisions restoring patent term to patentees for delays attributable to the PTO that occur prior to the issuance of a patent. “A Delay” refers to the PTO’s failure to timely take certain actions or provide certain notices to the patentee. 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(A). “B Delay” refers to the PTO’s failure to issue a patent within three years of the actual filing date of the application. Id. § 154(b)(1)(B). The statute requires the agency to extend the term of the patent by one day for each day the issuance of a patent is delayed under either section 154(b)(1)(A) or (B). This appeal concerns only A Delay. The relevant statutory provision, 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(1)(A), requires that a notice be sent to the applicant within 14 months of the MOHSENZADEH v. LEE 3 date of filing a domestic application or the start of the national stage of an international application: [I]f the issue of an original patent is delayed due to the failure of the Patent and Trademark Office to— (i) provide at least one of the notifications under section 132 or a notice of allowance under section 151 not later than 14 months after— (I) the date on which an applica- tion was filed under section 111(a); or (II) the date of commencement of the national stage under section 371 in an international application ... Id. § 154(b)(1)(A). Included among the types of notices due under section 132 is the notice of a restriction requirement. The impact of a late-mailed restriction requirement forms the basis of this appeal. When an application is filed with claims drawn to multiple inventions, the PTO may issue a restriction requirement, which requires the applicant to elect to prosecute only one of the inventions as part of that application. 35 U.S.C. § 121. For the remaining inventions, the applicant may file a divisional application, which entitles the invention in the divisional application to the benefit of the filing date of the original application. Id. After a patent is granted, the Director of the PTO must issue a patent term adjustment that adds one day of patent term for each day of A or B Delay attributable to the PTO. 35 U.S.C. 154(b)(1)(A). The adjustment is statutorily reduced for delays attributable to the applicant’s unreasonable prosecution efforts: 4 MOHSENZADEH v. LEE The period of adjustment of the term of a patent . . . shall be reduced by a period equal to the period of time during which the applicant failed to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution of the application. 35 U.S.C. § 154(b)(2)(C)(i) (emphasis added). The statute instructs the PTO to “prescribe regulations establishing the circumstances that constitute a failure of an applicant to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude processing or examination of an application.” Id. § 154(b)(2)(C)(iii).