Legal Definitions - antlike persistency

Antlike persistency is a term, often used with a slightly negative connotation, particularly within patent law. It describes the relentless and unyielding determination of an applicant or their legal representative to pursue a patent application or specific claims within it, despite numerous rejections, objections, or setbacks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO).

The core idea behind "antlike persistency" is a strategy of continuously arguing, amending, and resubmitting an application, with the aim of gradually wearing down the patent examiners' resistance. The hope is that through sheer tenacity and repeated efforts, the PTO will eventually relent and approve the patent or its claims, even if the initial grounds for rejection seemed strong. It highlights a tenacious, almost stubborn, approach that can be perceived as excessive or designed to exhaust the opposing party rather than to present fundamentally new or stronger arguments.

• Example 1 (Patent Application): Imagine a small inventor who has developed a unique widget. Their patent attorney files an application, but the patent examiner issues several "office actions" (rejections), citing various reasons like lack of novelty or obviousness. Instead of abandoning the application or significantly narrowing its scope, the attorney meticulously drafts detailed responses to each objection, makes minor amendments to the claims, and provides extensive arguments distinguishing the invention from prior art, submitting these revisions repeatedly over several years. This continuous, systematic effort to overcome every single objection, rather than giving up, demonstrates antlike persistency, as the attorney aims to wear down the examiner's resistance until the patent is finally granted.

• Example 2 (Regulatory Approval): Consider a pharmaceutical company seeking approval for a new drug from a regulatory body. The agency repeatedly requests additional data, raises concerns about side effects, and issues "complete response letters" indicating the application is not yet approvable. Despite these repeated rejections and the significant cost involved, the company's legal and scientific teams continue to conduct new studies, re-analyze existing data, and resubmit their application with minor adjustments and extensive rebuttals, without fundamentally altering the drug or its intended use. Their unwavering, drawn-out pursuit of approval, hoping the agency will eventually concede, illustrates antlike persistency.

• Example 3 (Contract Dispute): In a complex business negotiation over a multi-year service contract, one party insists on a very specific, minor clause that the other party consistently rejects as unnecessary and burdensome. Despite numerous negotiation rounds where the clause is dismissed, the first party's legal team continues to reintroduce it in every draft, provide slightly rephrased justifications, and even threaten to walk away from the deal over this single point. Their strategy is not necessarily to prove the clause's absolute necessity, but to make its persistent inclusion so tiresome and time-consuming for the other side that they eventually agree to it just to finalize the contract. This relentless focus on a single, often contentious, detail exemplifies antlike persistency.