Early RCE Creates Gaps In Patent Term Adjustment Award Tuesday, February 23, 2021 In Chudik V. Hirshfeld, the Federal Circuit upheld the USPTO’s determination that a Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) award for “C” delay is not available when an examiner reopens prosecution after an Appeal Brief is filed, because an award for “C” delay requires actual appellate review. The court warned of the consequences of filing a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) early in the examination process instead of pursuing an appeal right away, because that prevented an award for “B” delay over the time periods at issue. While not at issue in this case, patent holders may be wondering when the USPTO will start calculating PTA correctly under the 2019