June 2012 This month, in Hollmer v. Harari, No. 11-1276 (Fed. Cir. June 7, 2012), the Federal Circuit further clarified the law governing “incorporation by reference” in patent applications. Previously, in Harari v. Hollmer, 602 F.3d 1348 (Fed. Cir. 2010), the Court concluded that when an examiner is faced with an amendment clarifying ambiguous incorporation by reference language in an application that is “at the initial filing stage,” the reasonable examiner standard applies for determining whether a document was properly incorporated. In this second appeal, the Court addressed whether this reasonable examiner standard also applies for determining if intermediary applications can sufficiently incorporate an application by reference such that they satisfy the continuity requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 120. Read the full summary of the Court’s decision in next month’s edition of Last Month at the Federal Circuit.
Looking Ahead
