§257 Supplemental examinations to consider, reconsider, or correct information

Summary

A patent owner can ask the Patent Office to take another look at a patent to consider, recheck, or fix information that might matter. The Director must do that extra review within 3 months and must issue a certificate saying whether the new information raises a substantial new question about whether the patent should have been allowed. If a substantial new question is found, the Director must order a reexamination using the usual reexamination rules, except the patent owner may not file the specific statement allowed by section 304. The Director must address each substantial new question, even if normal reexamination limits would usually block some issues. If the information is considered, reconsidered, or corrected in the supplemental review, the patent cannot be ruled unenforceable just because of earlier problems with that information. But that protection does not apply if the same issue was already pleaded in a lawsuit or in a certain FDA notice before the supplemental request was filed, or in certain trade or civil actions unless the supplemental review and any reexamination finish before the action starts. The Director will set fees and rules for requests and items submitted, and extra reexamination fees apply if reexamination is ordered. If the Director finds possible material fraud during the process, the Director must refer it to the Attorney General confidentially. This law does not stop criminal or antitrust penalties, or the Director’s authority to investigate or punish misconduct or to make rules for practitioner discipline.