Scheduled CAFC Oral Arguments in USPTO v. GSK & Tafas – December 5, 2008.

The CAFC hears oral arguments tomorrow, December 5th, in relation to the ruling in Tafas v. Dudas; SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Dudas, which permanently enjoined the USPTO’s claims and continuations rules.  In permanently enjoining the claims and continuations rules, Judge Cacheris held that the USPTO’s rulemaking authority under 35 U.S.C. § 2(b)(2) does not extend to substantive rules, and that the claims and continuations rules are substantive in nature.

Gene Quinn at IPWatchdog has nicely summarized the chronology of events leading to the present appeal here.  Further background on this case from AT! may be found here.