The USPTO is hosting a roundtable to discuss the use of crowdsourcing and third-party preissuance submissions to identify prior art and increase the quality of examination leading to higher quality patents.
These are noble goals, but so far the number of third-party submissions is relatively small compared to the number of pending US patent applications. Finding pertinent prior art can be time consuming, and tends to not get done unless that effort is compensated. How about micro-entity fees on one application in exchange for submission of prior art that becomes the basis of a prior art rejection?
The roundtable will be held at USPTO's Madison Auditorium South Concourse Level in Alexandria, VA from 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm ET on April 10, 2014. The roundtable can be also accessed by WebEx. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis if you email crowdsourcingRoundtable2014@uspto.gov.
The USPTO requests written comments on any topic in the Federal Register notice no later than April 25, 2014. For details on written comments click here.
The Crowdsourcing Roundtable page gives directions, the agenda, and RSVP details. For more information you can also contact Mr. Jack Harvey: jack.harvey@uspto.gov or 571-272-8004.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
