<div dir="auto"><div>yes, i petition premature final all the time, and win most of them. i am traveling this minute; I will send examples when i'm in front of computer.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I set them up by holding one claim unamended. (Another reason to traverse bogus restriction requirements.)</div><div><br></div><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span><span><span><span><span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,127,160);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:12px"><a border="0" href="https://www.iam-media.com/strategy300/individuals/david-boundy" style="color:rgb(102,127,160);text-decoration:none;outline:medium none;background:transparent none repeat scroll 0px 0px" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="92" width="73" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wRMgBgcdZCqTw68Gg6ihENvW6_y8dGBqYvnJwiaIyu6LO5a7IJ-cljKsueIE5uxXbT6s9MN5hE2lGU"> <br></a></p></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(50,49,48);font-weight:normal;text-align:start;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px">
<b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(96,110,154)">David Boundy </span></b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">| Partn</span></p>
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</span><a href="http://ssrn.com/author=2936470" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">Articles at http://ssrn.com/author=2936470</a><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext"><br></span></a></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">Click here to add me to your
contacts.</span></a></p></font></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:14px"><span style="font-weight:700"></span></p></span></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></span><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Sep 12, 2025, 2:22 PM Justin Miller via Patentpractice <<a href="mailto:patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com" rel="noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">patentpractice@oppedahl-lists.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">All,</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">I am working on a utility patent application for a medical device. Received a first office action with prior art rejections. I made minor claim amendments, had an interview with the examiner, who stated that the application appeared allowable.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">But I just received a final office action based on new prior art references.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">In the final office action, the examiner states that the action is properly final because the new grounds of rejection were necessitated by the amendments. That seems to be a stretch to me.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Has anyone had any luck contesting finality? I have read <a href="https://mpep.uspto.gov/RDMS/MPEP/current#/current/d0e69118.html" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">MPEP 706.07(a)</a>, but it seems unclear as to when the new ground of rejection is "necessitated by applicant\u2019s amendment of the claims".<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">My suspicion is that while it is possible to fight the finality of the office action, it is probably cheaper to file an RCE.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">As the bonus question, I welcome any strategies when receiving a final office action. In my experience, when I receive two rejections from the same examiner, given that I always participate in an interview, it is often either time to abandon or appeal. But given that this rejection is substantively different I think a round of negotiation might be helpful. Perhaps I can squeeze in another interview before I respond.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Interesting stats (page is slow to load):</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><a href="https://www.bipc.com/us-patent-practice-responding-to-final-rejections-so-as-to-minimize-the-need-for-rce-filings" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.bipc.com/us-patent-practice-responding-to-final-rejections-so-as-to-minimize-the-need-for-rce-filings</a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Thanks for reading.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font face="georgia, serif" style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">Sincerely,</font><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="georgia, serif">Justin P. Miller</font></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="georgia, serif">Patent Attorney</font></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="georgia, serif">Distinct Patent Law</font></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><font face="georgia, serif"><font color="#222222"><a href="https://distinctpatentlaw.com/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" rel="noreferrer noreferrer noreferrer" target="_blank">https://distinctpatentlaw.com/</a></font></font></div><div style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"><div><font face="georgia, serif">Office: 727.513.4590</font><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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