What is considered impermissible recapture in a reissue application?

In the context of a reissue application, impermissible recapture refers to the situation where a patent owner attempts to reclaim subject matter that was surrendered during the original prosecution in order to distinguish their claims over the prior art. The correct answer, eliminating entirely a limitation added during prosecution, exemplifies this concept.

When a limitation is added during prosecution, it serves to differentiate the claimed invention from prior art references. If a patentee were to later remove this limitation in a reissue application, they would be attempting to recapture scope that had previously been surrendered to obtain the patent, which is not permissible under the rules governing reissue applications. This is to ensure that the integrity of the patent examination process is maintained and that the scope of the claims does not revert back to what had been rejected or modified during initial processing.

The other options, such as adding multiple new claims, changing the inventor on the application, or reducing claims associated with terminal disclaimers, do not fall under the definition of impermissible recapture. Adding new claims can be a legitimate part of a reissue application as long as they do not recapture surrendered subject matter. Changing the inventor may occur due to various legitimate reasons, and reducing claims associated with terminal disclaimers is also