USPTO Expects Continuation and Claim Number Limitations by January 2007

According to Hal Wegner, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy Jay P. Lucas announced in his luncheon speech at the George Mason University Law School on July 18, 2006 that the final rules package on continuation and clain number limitations would be published at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. This would make the rules effective one month later, in January 2007. "Commissioner Lucas acknowledged that the PTO is still studying the 575 public comments – some thirty, forty or fifty pages – but nevertheless expressed the view that the final rules package would be implemented," writes the Good Professor.