What is a final rejection?
On a second or subsequent office action from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the patent examiner may issue a final rejection. The final rejection closes the prosecution of the patent application and no patent will issue (at that time). The patent office will issue a final rejection when the patent examiner believes that a clear issue of patentability has developed between the examiner and the applicant. For example, if on a first office action, an examiner raises patentability issues that are not resolved by the applicant’s amendments and arguments, the subsequent office action may be a final office action citing the same rejections as the prior office action.
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