Proposed Rules Change to Benefit from the Global Dossier Initiative: Amendment to 37 CFR § 1.56(a)

The Global Dossier Initiative is now up and running! It provides the American (or a counterpart overseas) Patent Examiner with the full prior art citations from parallel prosecution files of participating Patent Offices. 

Elimination of Redundant Citations of Prior Art:  Given that the U.S. Examiner should study the parallel prior art citations, now is the time to modify 37 CFR § 1.56(a) to exclude from any duty to disclose prior art included in a Global Dossier Initiative entry.

Proposed Amendment to 37 CFR § 1.56(a):  Attached as part of the PDF version of this note are a proposed change to Rule 56(a) and a PTO summary of the Global Dossier Initiative.

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Regards,
Hal