Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences

Patent and Trademark Office (P.T.O.)

 

*1 A

v.

B

Interference No.

August 28, 1991

 

Saul I. Serota

 

 

Chairman

 

 

Ian A. Calvert

 

 

Vice-Chairman

 

 

Stanley M. Urynowicz, Jr.

 

 

Examiner-in-Chief

 

 

 On July 23, 1991 the party B filed a complaint charging the junior party A with unauthorized disclosure to others of papers from B's involved application. B seeks an order precluding A from disclosing files of pending applications involved in the interference to persons not involved in the interference and requiring A to recover and destroy all copies of material wrongfully disclosed. On August 5, 1991 A filed an opposition to the complaint and on August 9, 1991 B filed a response to the opposition.

 

 

 Although we are sympathetic to the complaint of B, we are constrained to deny his request for an order. Under 35 USC 122 and 37 CFR 1.14, the authority upon which B relies in support of his complaint and request for an order, applications for patents shall be kept in confidence by the Patent and Trademark Office. However, neither the statute nor the rule includes a provision authorizing the Office to order another, i.e. a party to an interference such as A, to keep an application for patent in confidence or to take any action with respect to material from an application which that party has disclosed to others.

 

 

 Times remain as previously set.

 

<< Return to Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences Index