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Filing a Reissue Can Correct Serious Patent Errors
Many parties obtain U.S. patents every year. Sometimes there are errors or deficiencies in these patents. Many minor errors may be corrected by means of a certificate of correction issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). But more serious errors, and even some things that one may not think of as being "errors," may be corrected by means of filing a reissue application. According to statute:
"Whenever any patent is, through error, deemed wholly or partially inoperative or invalid, by reason of a defective specification or drawing, or by reason of the patentee claiming more or less than he had a right to claim in the patent, the director [of the USPTO] shall … reissue the patent for the invention disclosed in the original patent, and in accordance with a new and amended application, for the unexpired part of the term of the original patent. No new matter shall be introduced into the application for reissue." See, 35 U.S.C. Section 251(a).
A key phrase in the statute is "wholly or partially inoperative or invalid." Errors that fail to rise to this level may generally be addressed by means of a certificate of correction. Consequently, a reissue application should not be used to address minor issues of spelling, grammar, typographical errors, and the like, which generally do not cause the patent to be "wholly or partially inoperative or invalid." On the other hand, errors in the specification or drawings that may lead to errors in correctly understanding the scope of the claims, for example, may be addressed via reissue.
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