L&P Obtains Another Reissue Patent

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) today granted Reissue Patent No. 49,387 to L&P client Blanding Hovenweep, L.L.C.  L&P partners Matt Phillips and Derek Meeker filed the application (U.S. Patent Appl. No. 16/902,799) and prosecuted it to allowance.  This is the fifth broadening reissue of U.S. Patent No. 7,136,710, which granted in 2006 from an application filed in 1995 and claiming priority back to 1991.  This is a third-generation continuation reissue.  Phillips explained, “Continuation reissues are an esoteric aspect of reissue practice.  In this case, we obtained broadening claims about 15 years after the two-year broadening reissue deadline.  And, remarkably, we did so for an invention made over 30 years ago, as the original patent claimed priority to a pre-GATT patent application filed in 1991.”  Over the last twelve years, L&P lawyers have filed and prosecuted dozens of reissue applications and developed a deep expertise in the many highly specialized facets of reissues, including continuation reissues.