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News Analysis

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 7, 380–381 (1 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/nrd2586

Patent Watch

No new rules at the US patent office A US district court has decided that proposed changes to how US patents are filed, sought by the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), are unlawful. In an attempt to reduce its backlog of patent applications, the PTO wanted to bring about the contentious changes — which have become known as the 'final rules' — to restrict the number of patent claims and continuations that can be filed.