The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it has rescinded a patent regulations package proposed by the previous administration.  The regulations would have effectively permitted an applicant to file only five independent claims and twenty-five total claims per application, and only one request for continued examination and two continuation applications per application.

The regulations were highly controversial.  Some patent applicants felt that the regulations unduly restricted their capacity to protect their inventions.  The regulations were enjoined and never came into effect because of a lawsuit filed by GlaxoSmithKline.

The full announcement is available at the following link: http://www.uspto.gov/news/09_21.jsp