Board reminder that Federal Circuit appeal, not PTAB Rehearing, is the appropriate forum to reargue issues already decided by the PTAB

The PTAB Rehearing decision Ex parte Brozell criticized an Applicant for filing a Request for Rehearing in order to argue that the Board had erred on claim construction and on the conclusion of obviousness:

[A] request for rehearing is not an opportunity to express disagreement with a decision. The proper course for an appellant dissatisfied with a Board decision is to seek judicial review, not to file a request for rehearing to reargue issues that have already been decided.
(Emphasis added.)

Applicant requests BPAI rehearing and receives new Office Action because Request introduced new evidence

Takeaway: In Ex parte O'Neill, the Board "procedurally reversed" the Examiner's obviousness rejections and instead entered a new ground of rejection for indefiniteness. The Applicant filed a Request for Rehearing by the BPAI under § 41.50(b)(2). The Request included arguments against the new indefiniteness rejection and was accompanied by an expert declaration under § 1.132 to "provide evidentiary support" for these new arguments. However, the BPAI did not act on the Request. Instead, the Examiner responded by issuing a non-final Office Action which included the Board-entered indefiniteness rejection as well as the previously-entered obviousness rejection. The Office Action noted that a Rehearing by the BPAI was not appropriate, since a Rehearing is limited to the same record, while the Applicant had submitted new evidence. 

My two cents: The rules which cover post-appeal processing (37 CFR § 41.50) are complicated, so you should read them carefully when you get a BPAI decision back. A Rehearing by the BPAI is strictly limited to the existing record — unless the Board enters a new ground of rejection, in which case arguments against the new rejection are allowed. But new evidence supporting those arguments is not allowed in a Rehearing.