37 CFR 1.989 : Patents, Trademarks, And Copyrights (§ 1.1 To Chapter V) — (§ 1.1 To Chapter V) — United States Patent And Trademark Office, Department Of Commerce (§ 1.1 To Parts 151-199) — General (§ 1.1 To §§ 5.31-5.33) — Rules Of Practice In Patent Cases (§ 1.1 To § 1.1071) — Inter Partes Reexamination Of Patents That Issued From An Original Application Filed In The United States On Or After November 29, 1999 (§ 1.902 To § 1.997) — Concurrent Proceedings Involving Same Patent In Inter Partes Reexamination (§ 1.985 To § 1.995) — Merger of concurrent reexamination proceedings.

(a) If any reexamination is ordered while a prior inter partes reexamination proceeding is pending for the same patent and prosecution in the prior inter partes reexamination proceeding has not been terminated, a decision may be made to merge the two proceedings or to suspend one of the two proceedings. Where merger is ordered, the merged examination will normally result in the issuance and publication of a single reexamination certificate under § 1.997.

(b) An inter partes reexamination proceeding filed under § 1.913 which is merged with an ex parte reexamination proceeding filed under § 1.510 will result in the merged proceeding being governed by §§ 1.902 through 1.997, except that the rights of any third party requester of the ex parte reexamination shall be governed by §§ 1.510 through 1.560.