The Federal Circuit sometimes uses “serial number” in a different way than that used by the PTO. The PTO identifies an “application number” by a two digit “series code” and a six digit “serial number.” See, e.g., 37 C.F.R. 1.5. The Federal Circuit will sometimes use “serial no.” more generally. For example, in the case decided yesterday, Medtronic CoreValve LLC v. Edwards LifeSciences Corp., the opinion states:
A complete priority chain claiming priority to International Application 2b under § 120 would have disclosed the following:
The present application (U.S. Application 10) claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 12/029,031 (U.S. Application 8), filed February 11, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 11/352,614 (U.S. Application 6), filed February 13, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 10/412,634 (U.S. Application 4), filed April 10, 2003, which is a continuation-inpart of International Application No. PCT/FR 01/03258 (International Application 2b), filed October 19, 2001.
The application no. “12/029,031” is this example is comprised of a series code “12” and a serial no. “029,031.” So, the above example given by the Federal Circuit can be a little bit confusing to new practitioners. One would preferably use “U.S. Application No.” (as the MPEP instructs) in place of “U.S. Application Serial No.” as indicated below:
The present application (U.S. Application 10) claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 12/029,031 (U.S. Application 8), filed February 11, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 11/352,614 (U.S. Application 6), filed February 13, 2006, which is a continuation of U.S. Application Serial No. 10/412,634 (U.S. Application 4), filed April 10, 2003, which is a continuation-inpart of International Application No. PCT/FR 01/03258 (International Application 2b), filed October 19, 2001.
Curiously, the PTO search page still allows one to search by “application serial no.” but no longer by “application series code.” So, every “application serial no.” search produces about four to five results.