Agilent Interference Analysis, PTO’s Lack of Rulemaking Authority Reaffirmed

Any doubt lingering from its 2009 Agilent decision about the proper approach for analyzing patent interference priority cases was erased as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Jan. 5 that a district court abused its discretion by dismissing a lawsuit challenging several rulings by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. v. Cardiac Science Operating Co., Fed. Cir., No. 2009-1241, 1/5/10).