The USPTO announced Face-to-Face Examiner Interviews: A Demonstration of USPTO Tools runs noon - 1 pm Eastern, July 14.
In this second webinar in the Patent Quality series, the USPTO Director Timothy Callahan will demonstrate: "USPTO tools for virtual, face-to-face interviews and discussing various initiatives for enhancing the quality of examiner-Applicant interviews while collecting feedback and listening for new stakeholder ideas on the same."
Note - USPTO interviews are an important tool for reducing costs of patenting.
In case you missed it, the first webinar was held on June 9: Clarity of the Record
and videos and slides. Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy Drew Hirshfeld discussed examiner training on 35 U.S.C § 112, functional claiming, which is an important topic in software patenting, making
the record clear, and the USPTO's clarity of record quality initiative.
Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Showing posts with label examiners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label examiners. Show all posts
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Shine Tu - Patent Examiners and Litigation Outcomes
Tonight, check out Shine Tu's Patent Examiners and Litigation Outcomes. Here is the abstract of the article:
"Conventional wisdom argues that unnecessary litigation of low quality patents hinders innovation, and that the PTO could play a role with its high grant rates. Accordingly, it is important to answer these questions: (1) which patent examiners are issuing litigated patents, (2) are examiners who are “rubber stamping” patents issuing litigated patents at a disproportionately higher rate, and (3) are examiners with less experience issuing more litigated patents? In sum, do patent examiners who issue litigated patents have common characteristics? Intuition would argue that those examiners who issue the most patents (approximately one patent every three business days) would exhibit a higher litigation rate. Surprisingly, this study suggests that this is wrong.
This study uses two new patent databases that code for nearly 1.7 million patents and approximately 12,000 patents that were litigated between 2010 and 2011. This study determined that (1) litigated patents mainly come from primary examiners (those examiners with more experience), and (2) primary examiners with between three to five years of experience and who grant between forty-five and sixty patents per year are contributing to the litigated patent pool at a higher rate than expected. Interestingly, the highest volume primary examiners (examiners who on average grant more than eighty patents per and have more than eight years of experience) do better than expected."
The study matches my observations. Less experienced examiners tend to have lower production and/or require amendments that unduly narrow applications. Higher volume primary examiners (e.g., having eight years of experience) tend to have a better understanding of patent law and their technology which increases the chance the issued patent will be worthy of litigation.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
"Conventional wisdom argues that unnecessary litigation of low quality patents hinders innovation, and that the PTO could play a role with its high grant rates. Accordingly, it is important to answer these questions: (1) which patent examiners are issuing litigated patents, (2) are examiners who are “rubber stamping” patents issuing litigated patents at a disproportionately higher rate, and (3) are examiners with less experience issuing more litigated patents? In sum, do patent examiners who issue litigated patents have common characteristics? Intuition would argue that those examiners who issue the most patents (approximately one patent every three business days) would exhibit a higher litigation rate. Surprisingly, this study suggests that this is wrong.
This study uses two new patent databases that code for nearly 1.7 million patents and approximately 12,000 patents that were litigated between 2010 and 2011. This study determined that (1) litigated patents mainly come from primary examiners (those examiners with more experience), and (2) primary examiners with between three to five years of experience and who grant between forty-five and sixty patents per year are contributing to the litigated patent pool at a higher rate than expected. Interestingly, the highest volume primary examiners (examiners who on average grant more than eighty patents per and have more than eight years of experience) do better than expected."
The study matches my observations. Less experienced examiners tend to have lower production and/or require amendments that unduly narrow applications. Higher volume primary examiners (e.g., having eight years of experience) tend to have a better understanding of patent law and their technology which increases the chance the issued patent will be worthy of litigation.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Friday, August 8, 2014
What is the Probability of Receiving a US Patent?
Tonight I point to What is the Probability of Receiving a US Patent? which gives insight into US patent examination, including the fact different technologies and entities have different allowance rates. Worth reading if you trust in big data for strategy decisions, but at the same time a bit out of date for an article published in 2014, since it is based on applications filed in 1996 -2005.
Here is more detail taken from the author's abstract:
"We follow the prosecution histories of the 2.15 million new patent applications filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office between 1996 and 2005 to calculate patent allowance rates. 55.8% of the applications emerged as patents without using continuation procedures to spawn related applications. The success rate of applications decreased substantially from 1996 to 2005, particularly for applications in the “Drugs and Medical Instruments” and “Computers and Communications” fields. Applications filed by large firms are more likely to emerge as patents than those filed by small firms. We discuss the implications of our findings for inventors, policy makers, and social scientists who use successful patent applications as indicators of innovation."
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Here is more detail taken from the author's abstract:
"We follow the prosecution histories of the 2.15 million new patent applications filed at the US Patent and Trademark Office between 1996 and 2005 to calculate patent allowance rates. 55.8% of the applications emerged as patents without using continuation procedures to spawn related applications. The success rate of applications decreased substantially from 1996 to 2005, particularly for applications in the “Drugs and Medical Instruments” and “Computers and Communications” fields. Applications filed by large firms are more likely to emerge as patents than those filed by small firms. We discuss the implications of our findings for inventors, policy makers, and social scientists who use successful patent applications as indicators of innovation."
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
USPTO Patent Examiners Stressed Out!
In the article Inside the stressed-out, time-crunched patent examiner workforce, the Washington Post reports on what the patent community knows too well -- the emphasis on production quotas is stressing out US patent examiners. Until the USPTO can assess quality of examination and values it more than quantity of applications processed, there is no easy way out of the current environment.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Friday, May 9, 2014
Slate Article - American History of Patent Examiners
Tonight, I would point you to Professor Kara Swanson's The Surprisingly Engrossing History of Patent Examiners - In the 19th century, they were celebrities!
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2014 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
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