Appeal No. 2000-0002
Application 08/848,477
above, the patent term extension provisions of §154 do not
ensure that any patent issuing on an application filed on or
after June 8, 1995, will necessarily expire twenty years from
the earliest filing date or from the earliest date for which
benefit is claimed. Additionally, and notwithstanding
appellant's statement to the contrary, the rules (37 C.F.R. §
1.321(c)(3)) still require that a properly filed terminal
disclaimer include a statement that the patent and the
application whose term is being disclaimed are only
enforceable for and during the period that the two are
commonly owned. Thus, not requiring a terminal disclaimer on
the theory that no subsequently issued patent based on the
first issued patent's filing date may be extended beyond
twenty years for applications filed on or after June 8, 1995,
would nullify the very purpose for which the rule was
promulgated.
This leaves us only with appellant's arguments found at
page 10 of his brief where he argues that we should,
apparently, apply the standard for requiring restriction to
the claims in comparing them with the claims of the issued
patent for the purpose of determining whether the claimed
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