A re-examination proceeding can be a very cost-effective alternative to a litigation defense; in essence it can be a vehicle to take away your competitor's weapon: their patent. We will conduct all necessary invalidity searches, and prepare and file your re-examination request at very reasonable rates.
RE-EXAMINATION OVERVIEW
A re-examination ("re-exam") request is a process by which a member of the public asks the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to re-examine an issued patent. The requester must submit evidence - "prior art" - that raises a "substantial new question of patentability." In other words, the requester must present one or more documents that have not been previously considered by the USPTO, and the request cannot be made on the basis of patentability arguments per se.
Re-exam requests can be filed when a patent has been asserted as part of an infringement lawsuit (or under threat of a lawsuit). The defendant's strategy is to invalidate the patent - or force the owner of the patent to amend the claims in such a way that the defendant no longer infringes. Other times, re-exams can be filed when one party believes a competitor's patent is affording an unfair monopoly of a shared market space. In yet another scenario, an inventor may request re-examination of his or her own patent, if prior art is uncovered that was not considered during the prosecution of the patent. In such a case, the patent may emerge from the re-exam process in original form, or claims may be amended in consideration of the newly-discovered prior art.
INVALIDITY SEARCHES
The first step in the re-exam process is to uncover prior art that was not considered during the prosecution of the issued patent. We search for patent-invalidating prior art in patent databases, scientific journals, white papers, trade journals, and many other sources. An invalidity search can be performed first, to determine whether a re-exam request is a viable option for you.