If I add my recently issued patent as an argument or citation for patentability and non-obviousness in support of a claim rejection on a nonfinal first office action, will the patent have to go through a reexamination?
Helmuth
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Sign up to join this communityIf I add my recently issued patent as an argument or citation for patentability and non-obviousness in support of a claim rejection on a nonfinal first office action, will the patent have to go through a reexamination?
Helmuth
The section of the law (102) on prior art says:
(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention
The previous application was not published or issued before the second was filed so the only basis to call it prior art would be that it filed earlier by another inventor. If both are yours as sole inventor that is improper. It would be proper if there are different co-inventors. Once properly determined to be prior art it is no different from any other prior art unless there is a double patenting issue.