Appeal No. 1998-0425 Page 10
Application No. 08/272,527
patenting must be reversed. Our reasoning for this
determination follows.
Double patenting is a legal doctrine that forbids an
inventor from obtaining a second valid patent for either the
same invention or an obvious modification of the same
invention claimed in that inventor's first patent. See In re
Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 892, 225 USPQ 645, 648 (Fed. Cir. 1985).
The basic concept of double patenting is that the same
invention cannot be patented more than once since to do so
would result in a second patent that would expire some time
after the first patent expired and extend the protection
timewise. General Foods Corp. v. Studiengesellschaft Kohle
mbH, 972 F.2d 1272, 1279-80, 23 USPQ2d 1839, 1845 (Fed. Cir.
1992); In re Kaplan, 789 F.2d 1574, 1579-80, 229 USPQ 678, 683
(Fed. Cir. 1986).
35 U.S.C. § 101 states "Whoever invents or discovers any
new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition
of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may
obtain a patent therefor..." (Emphasis added). The
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