Supplemental Examination
Supplemental examination allows a Patent Owner to provide materials to the USPTO that may raise issues associated with inequitable conduct. Accordingly, after grant, a Patent Owner can submit documents that become known the the Patent Owner that were not properly considered by the USTPO during the original examination. If the materials submitted raise a substantial new question of patentability, then the Office will order ex parte reexamination of the claims based on the new material, where it will be considered. After this proceeding, the materials provided to the Office will not typically be able to be the basis of an inequitable conduct proceeding, because they either do not raise a substantial new question of patentability or they have been fully considered by the office if ex parte reexamination was granted.
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