Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published that it's seeking public input and guidance to direct efforts to improving patent quality.
The USPTO states it plans to "focus on improving patent operations and procedures to provide the best possible work products, to enhance the customer experience, and to improve existing quality metrics. In pursuit of these goals, the USPTO is launching a comprehensive and enhanced quality initiative. This initiative begins with a request for public comments on the set of proposals outlined in this document and will continue with a two-day “Quality Summit” with the public to discuss the outlined proposals. The conversation with the public held at this Quality Summit, complemented by written comments to these proposals, is the first of many steps toward developing a new paradigm of patent quality at the USPTO. Through an active and long-term partnership with the public, the USPTO seeks to ensure the issuance of the best quality patents and provide the best customer service possible."
In a blog post, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Deputy Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee
stated "improving patent quality lies at the core of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office’s mission, I’m pleased to announce the launch of a
comprehensive new program, our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative.
. . .
As you may know, we’ve already been hard at work at the USPTO on
numerous
initiatives focused on improving patent quality. We’ve offered robust
technical and legal training for patent examiners while rolling out new
programs such as the
Glossary
Pilot,
Quick
Path IDS Program,
First Action
Interview Pilot, and
After Final
Consideration Pilot. We’ve worked to improve operational capabilities and
information technology tools while
expanding
international work sharing efforts.
Our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative allows us to further improve patent
quality through direct and ongoing engagement. What do I mean by engagement? I
mean robust discussions with the broader public, from a longtime patent owner
to a Main Street retailer who has only recently begun to focus on these issues;
from patent prosecutors to patent litigators and from patent applicants to
patent licensees. We’re also having productive conversations within the
agency—from examiners and IT staff to policy experts. By engaging all of these
stakeholders, we are working to ensure the USPTO issues the best quality
patents possible.
If you want to be a part of that process, we’d love to have you at our
first-ever Quality Summit, an intense, two-day deep dive into patent quality
that will include discussions among USPTO leadership, experts from the agency,
industry and academia, and you. The Summit will be on March 25th and 26th at
USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. We’ll be looking at possible new
initiatives the USPTO could undertake, all of which fall under our three
identified Enhanced Patent Quality pillars: (1) excellence in our work
products; (2) excellence in measuring patent quality; and (3) excellence in our
customer service.
You’ll find our agenda for the Quality Summit in our
Federal
Register notice. But even if you can’t attend our Quality Summit in person,
you can participate via webinar and the Summit will be recorded for later
viewing. Also, the Federal Register notice lets you know how you can
directly provide us your written comments, including reaction to the overall
effort, thoughts on the initiatives under discussion at the Quality Summit, and
any other suggestions for agency initiatives or undertakings. The formal
comment period will remain open until May 6, but please understand that this in
an ongoing dialogue. There will be many more opportunities for us to hear from
you."
One person at the USPTO who will be particularly eager to read your comments
and hear your thoughts at our Quality Summit is Valencia Martin-Wallace, the
USPTO’s first Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality. This newly created
leadership position ensures a dedicated focus on the agency’s patent quality
efforts. Deputy Commissioner Martin-Wallace brings a wealth of experience to
this position. She’s worked at the USPTO for twenty-two years, serving as an
examiner, Technical Center Director, and Assistant Deputy Commissioner for
Patent Operations."
Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
