Patent Bar Practice Exam

If the Board affirms the rejection of independent claims, the appropriate course of action is to abandon the application. This is because an affirmation by the Board signifies that the claims are considered unsatisfactory for patentability. The remaining options do not sufficiently address the implications of an affirmed rejection. Advancing the case to final rejection would be redundant since the independent claims have already been rejected and affirmed, and there would be no point in rejecting them again. Issuing a new Office action allowing some claims does not align with the Board's decision since the independent claims are critical to the application, and allowing only dependent claims would not resolve the fundamental issue regarding the independent claims. Reassessing only the dependent claims may not be productive either because their patentability typically relies on the independent claims being allowed. Thus, abandoning the application becomes the logical and correct action when independent claims have been affirmed as rejected by the Board.