provides little more than generalities and speculation as to his work on the application. Thus, he
makes the following statements:
I do not recall any specific details of my efforts to prepare and ultimately file
Case Number 33136 (the Phillips case that issued as the Geerts ‘180 patent)
[GR 22, ¶ 40];
I probably did not begin any preliminary work on Case 33136 for at least
several months after the Invention Committee’s decision regarding IN 15174
[GR 22, ¶ 42]; .
I believe that I conducted preliminary work on Case 33136 starting after
October 1992 [GR 23, ¶ 43]; and.
I believe that I began drafting Case 33136, following the ordinary sequence
of cases appearing on my docket, sometime in early to mid 1993 [GR 23, ¶
44].
Bowman testifies that he had a heavy case load between May 22, 1992, when Case No. 33136
was assigned to him, and August 31, 1993, well after the date that Geerts’ application was filed. GR
22, ¶ 42; GR 24, ¶ 48. He also testifies that he took up cases in the order in which they were
assigned to him. GR 22, ¶ 42. Reasonable diligence does not require that an attorney drop
everything else and take up the preparation of an application on the involved invention. However,
the evidence to which we have been directed is insufficient to prove that Geerts worked on the
various matters assigned to him in chronological order except for necessary exigencies, such as
responses to Office actions and statutory bar dates. The evidence does not establish the dates when
specific work was done on the applications. Kollonitsch, 806 F.2d at 1028, 231 USPQ at 970.
Geerts specifically directs us to GX 69 and GX 70. These are said to be print outs of certain
Phillips computer records covering the period from May 22, 1992, to August 31, 1993. These records
are said to show, respectively, the applications and Office responses Bowman filed. GR 24, ¶ 48.
These records appear to show only when the applications and Office responses were filed. No
information is provided as when the work was actually done on the applications.
Geerts also refers to a chart which plots case numbers and the dates the corresponding
applications were filed. However, the chart is apparently based on the data in GX 69. As such it
does not show when Bowman actually worked on the cases. “[T]he attorney has the burden of
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