Subject: RE: U.S. Patent Office Rejects 2nd Apple Patent A little context goes a long way. Samsung files a reexamination with the US Patent Office. This is a process that allows a third party to request that the patent office re-examine (in essence reconsider) the patentability of an already issued patent. The patent office tends to have a relatively low threshold in granting these re-exams and when a re-exam is granted, that simply means that new prior art (patents, published applications, articles, etc.) are considered in determine if the patent should be upheld. In this case, all that has happened is that the patent office granted the re-exam (fairly typical) and issued an office action supporting the re-exam. Apple has several months to submit a formal response and the patent office then considers Apple's response. After such consideration, Apple has the right to appeal if the PTO doesn't buy their arguments. In reality, all that has actually happened is that the Patent Office has indicated that further consideration needs to be made on the new prior art references to allow Apple to keep its patent. |