No broadening in a continuation reissue if unrelated to original broadening aspect

Reissue and reexam are relatively specialized areas of prosecution practice. I rely on the Reexamination Alert blog to keep up with developments in this area.

According to this post at the Reexam Alert blog, the BPAI decided an issue of first impression related to broadening reissue:

The Board framed the issue as “whether a continuing reissue application can broaden the patented claims beyond the two-year statutory period in a manner unrelated to the broadening aspect that was identified within the two-year period” (emphasis added), and concluded that such a broadening was precluded by § 251, ¶4.