According to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR), a Notice will publish on Monday, March 10, 2008 relating to "Examination of Patent Applications That Include Claims Containing Alternative Language" (i.e., Markush claim language). While the Notice is currently styled as "Proposed Rules," we note that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office previously published proposed rules regarding this topic, and requested public comment, in August 2007.
While the final form (and status) of these rules is not known, the originally-published version was designed to "require applicants to identify, with more specificity, the claimed invention to be examined, thus promoting examination quality." Patent Docs will provide an overview of this Notice on Monday.
For additional information on this topic, please see:
• "USPTO’s Bruce Kisliuk Addresses ACI Conference," March 3, 2008
• "IPO Releases Comments on New Markush Rules," October 30, 2007
• "Patent Office Proposes New Rules for Alternative Claiming," August 12, 2007
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