The US Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy Jay P. Lucas announced in a speech at the George
Mason University Law School last week that the final rules concerning Continuations and claim number limitations would be published at the end of the year.
The new regime which the USPTO is trying to bulldoze through will probably come into effect in January 2007.
It is hoped that the changes will result in higher quality and more efficient examinations, but we are somewhat skeptical.
