An early appeal before the examiner has had a chance to “better” the rejection can sometimes end the case without ever having to deal with those “better” rejections.

Do the quality experts get involved with Appeals? Do they weed out bad rejections or rubber stamp the examiners?

To emphasize or not in your patent prosecution arguments. While we do not answer this question, this post illustrates how the applicant should be careful – it can be dangerous to emphasize language that in a way that the other side can use the emphasis to their advantage.

Know the rules for what it takes to retain flexibility in the claim scope.

Read about motivation to combine and an exception that can swallow the rule.

Can the examiner or examiner appeal panel object to the format of the appeal brief? Read on to find out and see what happens when they try.

What happens when an examiner fails to follow the rules in an Examiner’s Answer? Read on to find out.

It can show up even when you are not expecting it. Anytime an applicant is relying on a visual indicator’s function to differentiate the state of the art, be careful to consider the Printed Matter Doctrine.

Time for a test

Instead, it can be effective to address them head on and show how the rejection errs, even assuming the wacky interpretation is correct.