USPTO Puts Excess 5/25 Claim Applications Back into the Queue, for now

Thanks again to Professor Dennis Crouch at Patently-O following-up on the USPTO's October 11, 2007 memorandum placing certain patent applications in "pre-examination PALM status" where they exceed the new 5/25 claim rule taking effect on November 1, 2007. Eight days later, on October 19, 2007, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Opperations Margaret Focarino issued a subsequent memo restoring those the status of those applications by ordering examiners to "continuing examining applications on their docket (status 30) under the rules and procedures currently in effect."

However, according to Erin-Michael Gill comenting on the new memo:

With or without the memo, examiners ultimately have discretion on which cases to examine. Since they all know that November 1 means less work on a given affected application, there should only be a few applications this would actually impact.

And, on the public relations front, it sure would help to lessen the intrigue surrounding these types of memos if the Office would simply post them on their website before they get leaked to practitioners.