710.04(a) Copying Patent Claims [R-08.2012]

Where, in an application in which there is an unanswered rejection of record, claims are copied from a patent and all of these claims are rejected there results a situation where two different periods for reply are running against the application. One period, the first, is the regular statutory period of the unanswered rejection of record, the other period is the limited period set for reply to the rejection (either first or final). The date of the last unanswered Office action on the claims other than the copied patent claims is the controlling date of the statutory period. See Ex parte Milton, 63 USPQ 132 (P.O. Super Exam. 1938). See also MPEP Chapter 2300 .