The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now affirmed a U.S. Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) rejection finding that an applicant forfeited his right to a patent by failing to advance prosecution for an unreasonably long period. In re Stephen B. Bogese II, Case No. 01-1354 (Fed. Cir. Sept. 13, 2002).
This case involves technology that permits quick connections between telephone wires and electrical connectors used in computers. The application at issue claims priority back to an application filed in 1978. The original priority application was abandoned in favor of a continuation application. The continuation application reached the Federal Circuit in 1984 and again in 1987. In the 1987 decision, the Federal Circuit affirmed the BPAI’s rejection that the claims were obvious under §103. From that time forward, Bogese filed 11 file wrapper continuation applications, during which the claims were never amended, culminating in the filing of another application
