Patent Office Pulls Proposed Double-Patenting Disclaimer Rule

The US Patent and Trademark Office has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have made it easier to invalidate groups of related patents connected to a single invention and issued through what are called continuation applications.

The PTO cited “resource contraints” as driving its decision not to move forward with the rule it proposed in May, according to a Federal Register notice scheduled to be published Wednesday.

Terminal disclaimers are binding stipulations by applicants seeking continuation patents—which add claims to a previously issued patent or a pending patent application—stating that an invention’s term won’t extend beyond the term of ...