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2612 Persons Who May File a Request [R-7] - 2600 Optional Inter Partes Reexamination
2612 Persons Who May File a Request [R-7]
37 CFR 1.913 Persons eligible to file request for inter partes reexamination.
Except as provided for in § 1.907, any person other than the patent owner or its privies may, at any time during the period of enforceability of a patent which issued from an original application filed in the United States on or after November 29, 1999, file a request for inter partes reexamination by the Office of any claim of the patent on the basis of prior art patents or printed publications cited under § 1.501.
37 CFR 1.907 Inter partes reexamination prohibited.
(a) Once an order to reexamine has been issued under § 1.931, neither the third party requester, nor its privies, may file a subsequent request for inter partes reexamination of the patent until an inter partes reexamination certificate is issued under § 1.997, unless authorized by the Director.
(b) Once a final decision has been entered against a party in a civil action arising in whole or in part under 28 U.S.C. 1338 that the party has not sustained its burden of proving invalidity of any patent claim-in-suit, then neither that party nor its privies may thereafter request inter partes reexamination of any such patent claim on the basis of issues which that party, or its privies, raised or could have raised in such civil action, and an inter partes reexamination requested by that party, or its privies, on the basis of such issues may not thereafter be maintained by the Office.
(c) If a final decision in an inter partes reexamination proceeding instituted by a third party requester is favorable to patentability of any original, proposed amended, or new claims of the patent, then neither that party nor its privies may thereafter request inter partes reexamination of any such patent claims on the basis of issues which that party, or its privies, raised or could have raised in such inter partes reexamination proceeding.
As stated in 37 CFR 1.913, except as provided in 37 CFR 1.907, any person other than the patent owner may file a request for inter partes reexamination of a patent. The patent owner is precluded from initiating an inter partes reexamination of its patent because 35 U.S.C. 311(a)(as technically corrected by Section 13202 of Public Law 107-273) provides that "[a]ny third party requester at any time may file a request for inter partes reexamination by the Office of a patent on the basis of any prior art cited under the provisions of section 301." Ex parte reexamination (see Chapter 2200) and reissue (see Chapter 1400) are available to the patent owner to have its patent reviewed.
37 CFR 1.907 defines specific situations where a third party is prohibited from filing a request for an inter partes reexamination. 37 CFR 1.915(b)(7) requires the third party requester to certify that the estoppel provisions of 37 CFR 1.907 do not prohibit the filing of the inter partes reexamination request >by the real party in interest (note that it is the real party in interest that is subject to the estoppel provisions and not the party who actually files the request)<. The certification identified in 37 CFR 1.915(b)(7) will constitute a prima facie showing that the party requesting the inter partes reexamination is not barred from doing so under 37 CFR 1.907. The Office does not intend to look beyond this required certification. It is only in the rare instance where a challenge to the accuracy of the certification is raised by the patent owner, that the question would then need to be addressed. >A challenge to the accuracy of the certification must facially establish that the third party requesting the inter partes reexamination is barred from doing so under 37 CFR 1.907. Thus, for example, the challenger cannot rely on an argument that the third party requesting reexamination was, at one point, involved with a party barred under 37 CFR 1.907, and should thus be considered as a real party in interest (and barred from filing the request). Involvement per se does not facially establish that the other party is a real party in interest. The fact that a second party may benefit from an earlier reexamination request filed by a first party or a civil action conducted by the first party, or that the second party may have collaborated with the first party in a matter, does not facially evidence the second party was a real party in interest with the first party. With respect to the Office conducting an investigation to uncover whether the second party was a "real party in interest," the statute does not require, nor does it provide the tools, for the Office to investigate such matter. Further, Congress has not provided the Office with subpoena power or discovery tools and has not provided the Office with the ability to conduct hearings for eliciting testimony and cross-examination. The Office has not been authorized to impose punitive sanctions for non-compliance. Such evidentiary tools are, however, available to the courts, which are the appropriate vehicle to make a factual investigation as to the accuracy of the identification of a "real party in interest."<
Some of the persons likely to use inter partes reexamination are: licensees, potential licensees, infringers, potential exporters, patent litigants, interference applicants, and International Trade Commission respondents. The name of the person who files the request will not be maintained in confidence, and pursuant to 37 CFR 1.915(b)(8), the filing of the request must include a "statement identifying the real party in interest to the extent necessary for a subsequent person filing an inter partes reexamination request to determine whether that person is a privy."
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