USPTO Proposal on Terminal Disclaimer Practice Could Complicate Patent Enforcement

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently published a notice of proposed rulemaking that could significantly impact patent prosecution, licensing, and litigation. This notice, which was released on May 10th, suggests changes to terminal disclaimer practice that may render a patent owner unable to enforce a valid patent. This situation could arise if the valid patent is indirectly connected to another patent with even a single claim found anticipated or obvious due to prior art. For more detailed analysis on this development, attorneys at Sterne Kessler provide further insights in an article from Law360.