1st RCE, 2nd RCE task types

[BrandonK6644]

It would be useful to have task types for a first RCE, a second RCE, etc., so that we could setup automatic billing item creation in a way that would take into account the correct USPTO fee automatically.

Similarly, it would be nice to have an option to use similar task types for non-finals and finals. We have some clients, that pay different amounts based on where the case is during prosecution and currently the only way to determine which office action we are on is to count manually.

[ChristianS9906]

@BrandonK6644 You could very easily set up such task types--just use the existing ones as templates, update/rename them as needed, and start using them going forward instead of the vanilla Filed RCE. You'd have to manually select the appropriate one, of course.

Doing the same for OAs would be a little more challenging since they autodocket, but I think it could be done. You'd have to make some fancy database query triggers that would check to see if a prerequisite task (e.g., 1st OA) had docketed before triggering a 2nd OA task, and checking to make sure that no existing 2nd OA task was present. I think this can all be done in the current task framework--see example below.

First NFOA - Create "Respond to 1st Non-Final Office Action" task
When a specific task is created: "Receive non-final office action"
AND
While a task database query doesn't return any records: Matter = "{Task.Matter}" and TaskType.Contains("Respond to") and TaskType.Contains("Non-Final Office Action")

Second NFOA - Create "Respond to 2nd Non-Final Office Action" task
When a specific task is created: "Receive non-final office action"
AND
While a task database query returns one or more records: Matter = "{Task.Matter}" and TaskType = "Respond to 1st Non-Final Office Action"
AND
While a task database query doesn't return any records: Matter = "{Task.Matter}" and TaskType = "Respond to 2nd Non-Final Office Action"

And so forth for 3rd, 4th, etc. NFOAs (assuming you want that level of granularity).

NOTE: In order for this to work, the most recent previous NFOA task has to be correctly assigned since each subsequent task creation event looks for the "previous" task that should have been created according to the trigger rules. So you'd have to analyze your docket and at least update the most recent Respond to NFOA tasks to reflect their proper "number" before implementing the above rules.

As far as I know, there isn't a "While a task database query returns exactly X records" where you can specify X. If that existed, you could avoid having to back-update your tasks to the new format.

Cheers,
Christian