NEWS OF THE WEEK INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY
LIMITING CLAIMS PTO action plan set to improve drug and biotechnology patent process
L
AST WEEK, THE U.S. PATENT
& Trademark Office (PTO) released an action plan to improve the quality and consistency in the way patent applications claiming multiple inventions, or claim sets, are handled. The restriction clarifications, which limit the number ofclaim sets in a single patent, apply to biotechnology pharmaceutical, and organic chemistry patent applications. This group of technology patents was targeted because its applications frequently include many claimed inventions, making the applications very burdensome for examiners to process.
WAR
'The plan is a set ofground rules for leveling the playingfield,"says Brigid Quinn, deputy director of public affairs at PTO. "It's really meant to help the applicants." To achieve a common understanding, the action plan also calls for the office to publish examples of acceptable claim sets. It calls for examiner training in restriction practices, a "second pair of eyes" to review restriction decisions in order to promote consistency, and an emphasis on the rejoinder practice—an alternative to filing a new application for restricted claim sets. "PTO is on the right track,"
ARSENAL
NO SUSPECT ARMS FOUND IN IRAQ U.S. investigator finds only activities 'related' to weapons of mass destruction
T
Kay 16
HREE MONTHS OF SEARCH-
ing by the 1,400-member U.S. Iraq Survey Group has unearthed no caches of weapons of mass destruction or active weapons production but has uncovered evidence of "WMD {weapons of mass destruction}related program activities."That, in short, is what lead investigator David Kay has told Congress of his preliminary postwar findings. Kay stressed that another six to nine months of field investigation are needed. His group's efforts so far have cost $300 million. However, as part of its $87 billion supplemental spending request to rebuild Iraq, the White House has asked for another
C&EN
/ OCTOBER
13,
2003
$600 million for the search effort. Kay debunked the Bush Administration's prewar claims that Iraq was attempting to procure uranium from Niger and highstrength aluminum tubes to build centrifuges to enrich uranium. He noted that his group has yet to uncover evidence that "Iraq took significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material." United Nations inspectors left Iraq in 1998 and didn't return until 2002. N o evidence of biological weapons (BW) stocks or production facilities has been found. However, Kay cited "significant information" suggesting "biological warfare activities." These in-
says Charles E. Van Horn, chairman of the American Intellectual Property Law Association's Committee of Relations with PTO-Patents. "The office is trying to strike a balance" between meeting the needs of the applicant and avoiding undue burden on the examiner, he explains. Lila Feisee, director of government relations and intellectual property at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, agrees that PTO is trying to improve the situation. "In general, they are making a positive move, which is good," she says. "It seems like PTO is hearing our concerns." She hopes the office will continue to work with its customers and get their input in defining the claim sets and developing examiner training. The plan is supposed to take effect immediately, but PTO expects full implementation within ninemonths.-SUSAN MORRISSEY
cluded "research and development of BW-applicable organisms, the involvement of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in possible BW activities, and deliberate concealment activities." The activities went undeclared, violated United Nations resolutions, and preserved Iraq's ability to resume BW production, he stressed. The findings of Kay's group have not supported Secretary of State Colin Powell's prewar claims that Iraq harbored mobile B W production facilities. Kay equivocated on the two trailers found by U.S. forces in Iraq after the war, which Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analysts have concluded were probably used to make hydrogen For artillery weather balloons. Kay's report confirmed a 2002 DIAassessment released after the war that "Iraq's large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new chemical weapons munitions was reduced—if not entirely destroyed—during {the 1991 Gulf War}, 13 years of U N sanctions, andUNinspections."-L0IS EMBER HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
