~ June 2003~
PTO Eliminates CPA Practice for Utility Patent Applications
 

Effective July 14, 2003, the PTO will eliminate the current CPA practice under Rule 53(d) for utility patent applications.  Accordingly, applicants seeking further prosecution of claims that have been finally rejected will need to file a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) under Rule 114 or a “new” application under Rule 53(b).

When the PTO adopted the RCE procedure effective May 29, 2000, it maintained CPA practice under Rule 53(d) as part of the transition to the RCE practice.  The PTO's experience has been that many recent CPAs filed by U.S. practitioners are improper, because the prior application was not filed before May 29, 2000.  Therefore, the PTO has decided to eliminate CPA practice altogether with respect to utility applications.  The CPA practice will be maintained with respect to design patent applications only.