USPTO - Director Michelle K. Lee at the IAM Patent Law and Policy Conference

Director Michelle Lee recently evaluated the current state and results of her tenure at the USPTO at the IAM Patent Law and Policy Conference:

"Thank you and good morning.  It’s a real pleasure to be with you here today. Throughout the day we’ll be prognosticating about what IP policy will look like in the next administration. This morning, I’d like to share with you my thoughts on: the current state of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and how it situates us to meet our future challenges and opportunities.

What we all know is that IP is increasingly important to the success of our economies. That is perhaps best illustrated in a major study on the economic impact of IP intensive industries that was just published by the USPTO in collaboration with our DOC colleagues at the Economics and Statistics Administration. This report found that IP-intensive industries directly and indirectly supported more than 45 million jobs in 2014, or nearly 1/3 of all U.S. jobs. These findings parallel the recently released joint EPO and EUIPO study that found that approximately 38% of all employment in EU stems from businesses that have a higher than average use of IP rights. So, whether you’re in D.C., or London, or anywhere in between or beyond, IP remains a vital driver of economic growth. And that is why I believe the incoming administration must and will continue our effort to promote innovation fueled by a strong and robust IP system. Support for IP in the United States has a long history of bipartisanship, and there’s no reason to imagine that changing with a new president and a new Congress, both of whom have economic growth as a top priority.

Because we will spend much of today looking forward, allow me to look back on what we’ve done during this administration and how it positions us for the work ahead. Back in January 2009, when President Obama was first sworn into office, the USPTO’s patent application backlog and pendency numbers were at all-time highs. Today, both our backlog and pendencies are now lower than they’ve been in more than a decade, and they continue to go down. That is hardly the only success story. But it’s emblematic of how much the USPTO has charged forward the last eight years, and how strongly it is positioned to face future challenges. This has been a team effort, with incredible work done by my predecessors including former Director Dave Kappos, Congressional cooperation, the incredibly dedicated and talented staff at the USPTO, and all of our stakeholders. Together, we have put the agency in a spot where we are well-suited to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Today, we are financially more secure thanks to the America Invents Act, a milestone of this administration, which gave us, among other things, fee setting authority. Additionally, we are more customer-service oriented and more responsive to stakeholders than ever before. We’ve constantly welcomed—in fact solicited—feedback and input, and are willing to refine and improve where needed. We’ve had more RFC’s, Proposed Rules, and roundtables than ever before – including on such topics as: our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative, our 101 guidance, our PTAB implementation and refinements, and our transparency of patent ownership proposal.

Thank you for your input, patience and help responding to each. We’ve also brought a broader range of services to support American innovators where and when needed, including: Through four Regional Offices across the country, and over a dozen IP attaches across the globe. And, we’ve worked to provide you with more access to examiner interviews increasing the number of interview hours by more than 232% in just 8 years. Finally, and importantly, the USPTO’s relationships with all of its partners is healthier and stronger than ever before –that’s with the public, our employees, Congress, and within the administration.

I want to take a brief moment on this topic, because I really do believe it is key to the agency’s success – past and future. Thinking back to even just 10 years ago, the relationship with the public was nowhere near as collaborative, transparent, or productive as it is today. The agency often did not seek much input on examiner guidance or implementation rules. In fact, almost 10 years ago, the USPTO was sued in Tafas v. Dudas, when it decided to move ahead—over much public opposition—to adopt rules that would have placed additional burdens on patent filings. And interviews weren’t encouraged as they are today. Together, we have changed that dynamic. Second, we’ve strengthened our working relationship with our employees. All told, we have enjoyed some of the highest rankings in the Partnership for Public Service’s list of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government. And we all know, an engaged workforce produces better work product and services. We have also maintained a healthy working relationship with Congress on both policy proposals and operational issues. From the passage of AIA, to the Defend Trade Secrets Act, to technical assistance on various legislative proposals, we have engaged with our colleagues on the Hill in impactful ways and the USPTO’s voice is a respected one. Finally, the USPTO is effectively fulfilling its role as principal advisor to the president and administration on IP policy. I’ve been pleased with the confidence the president and the Secretary of Commerce have shown me and my team, allowing us to pursue policies and programs in the best interest of our innovators. All of this: the greater financial security, the increased customer service orientation, and the better relationships with all of our stakeholders, has enabled us to make real progress on our priorities, and positions us for even greater success going forward. There is strong evidence of this in a number of important areas, including patent backlog and pendencies, quality and  policy.

During this administration, we have: reduced the backlog of unexamined patent applications by approximately 30% despite an average four percent year-over-year increase in filings, reduced our first action pendency by 38% to 16.2 months, and reduced total pendency by ~25% to 25.3 months. Armed with greater finances and a shrinking backlog, we embarked on an unprecedented effort to enhance the quality of patents – a core goal of the agency. There is a cost to society when the USPTO issues a patent that we should not issue, just as there is a cost to society when we don’t issue a patent that should issue. And just as there is a cost to society when there is a patent in the system that the USPTO properly issued but that is no longer valid in light of changes in case law. Recognizing this, we have enhanced the quality of patents in our system, both before they leave our office through our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative led by a new Deputy Commissioner and a newly created department within the Patents solely focused on this effort and after the patents return to the office through our PTAB and other post grant review proceedings.
  
Addressing the second prong first, the new PTAB proceedings have significantly changed the patent landscape – both litigation and prosecution. We have had more than 5,000 PTAB petitions filed to date, and these proceedings are meeting our Congressional mandate of providing a faster, more cost efficient quality check on the patents in the system. With extensive input from all of you, we have worked hard to implement and conduct these proceedings as fairly and effectively as possible. That’s why I asked my team to engage all of you in a series of listening tours that led to a set of “quick fixes” in 2015 and then more substantive revised rules last April. That’s why we took it upon ourselves to assess the frequency of motions to amend and the reasons for their grants and denials. And, that’s why, in response to input from stakeholders about serial PTAB patent challenges, I asked my team to study the data to determine whether, to what degree and under what circumstances, patents were being challenged multiple times and whether those challenges might be improper or unfair. Our study produced some interesting data that I believe will better inform our discussions on this topic. We will be publishing a request for comments within the next several weeks, sharing details of the data we gathered, asking if our data matches your experiences, and welcoming what, if any, next steps might be appropriate in light of the data. Bottom line, we’re listening to you and applying your input to identify how and where we can do better.

These PTAB proceedings have proven a valuable check on patent quality, particularly in the later part of a patent’s lifecycle. At this point, it makes sense to bring greater resources to bear if there are questions about a patent’s validity. The economics are different at the beginning of a patent’s lifecycle. The value of a patent is often not fully known at time of filing perhaps due to the nascency of the technology, industry and/or market, and the time and resources afforded during examination are typically limited. Innovation isn’t served if the USPTO only strives to issue very expensive “bullet-proof” patents after many years of examination. Extensive time and expense would mean that innovators would file too few patent applications, given finite budgets. If over time the industry and the market determine that a piece of patented technology is valuable and the public believes it is not valid under current law then there is an economic incentive to expend greater resources to test the validity of the patent.  And a panel of technically trained judges steeped in patent law is well-suited to perform this double-check quickly and efficiently. In short, to best incentivize innovation, the USPTO needs to issue IP rights that are as certain, reliable and affordable as they can reasonably be, and offer post-grant proceedings that quickly, accurately and cost-effectively test the validity of patents, proven to be of economic importance, if questions of validity arise. With all of that said, it is essential that these post-grant proceedings are properly calibrated so that they provide a quality check but do not bar deserving patentees from enforcing their patent rights. It’s why a number of the protections in the AIA are so important, such as restrictions on timing of challenges, thresholds petitioners must meet for institution, and strict estoppel provisions. It’s also why the agency is committed to revising our rules as many times as needed so these proceedings are as fair and effective as possible within our Congressional mandate. It’s why it is critical, within this framework, the USPTO issue the very best quality patents possible.

Patents that are issued correctly, clearly and consistently across the Patent Examination Corps. And, it’s why I launched the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative in 2015, so patent owners can have greater confidence and certainty of their rights in this new environment. Today we’ve got about a dozen initiatives underway that, we believe, will meaningfully move the needle on enhancing patent quality. This includes making sure we’re getting the most relevant prior art before our examiners as early as possible by: making prior art cited in our PTAB proceedings available to the examiner handling a related pending child application, and transitioning our all our examiners from the decades old, antiquated U.S. Patent Classification System to the updated, increasingly global Cooperative Patent Classification System. It also includes drilling down on best practices such as clarity of the record, developing new and better ways to measure our progress, through our Master Review Form and new Quality Metrics, and, importantly, reviewing the amount of time our examiners need to do their work in light of these changes and other larger changes within the patent system.

So, this is what we’re doing at a high level, but I’d like to share more specifics about one of our programs, our “Clarity of the Record Initiative” and some of the great progress we have been making on our Clarity of the Record pilot program. The goal of this program is to develop best practices on how much detail to include in certain key parts of the prosecution history, for example: Interview summaries, or reasons for allowance, or construction of 112(f) limitations. Regarding interview summaries: How many times have you reviewed a file history, noted the patent rejected and then seen the patent allowed after an interview with minimal or no changes to the claims and little or no explanation for the allowance? In this pilot, we worked to provide more detailed summaries including the substance of the examiner’s position, details of any agreement reached, and a description of next steps following the interview. After the pilot concluded, we measured 22 data points focused on clarity, and found an average of 15% improvement in clarity between the pilot examiners and a control group. On reasons for allowance: How many times have you reviewed a prosecution history, and there is nothing in the record to indicate why the claims were allowed by the examiner? Because it is at the discretion of the individual examiner to set forth reasons for allowance, those reasons have not always been included in every Notice of Allowance. In this pilot, we trained participants on setting forth reasons for allowance in every Notice of Allowance. At the conclusion of the pilot, we found a 25% improvement in the clarity of reasons for allowance between the pilot and control group. On claim interpretation:  How many times have you seen a prosecution history, where there was clearly an issue about how a claim was interpreted, but the record was devoid of any explanation of the interpretation? In the pilot, the examiners were given training on explicitly setting forth key claim interpretations to minimize ambiguities. For example: Explaining all Section 112(f) presumptions and whether the presumptions were overcome, Identifying on the record the structure in the specification that performs the function, and when a prior art reference is used to reject multiple claims, clearly addressing specific limitations in each claim that provide the basis for the rejection. With our trainings on interview summaries, reasons for allowance and claim interpretations, we saw a statistically significant improvement in clarity when examiners used these best practices. Also, the clarity of the record initiative furthers the goal of compact prosecution by encouraging the applicant to rebut the examiner’s on-the-record position promptly and directly if there is disagreement. In short, we are already taking steps to clarify the record and you will see our examiners doing so increasingly over time. And importantly and necessarily, we are simultaneously reviewing the amount of time needed for this effort, and will work with the public to determine the desired amount of additional clarity and appropriate time to achieve the goal.

Of course, patent quality also means applying the law accurately and clearly even in areas of the law that are evolving including, for example, the 101 jurisprudence on what is patent eligible subject matter. As many of you know, we’ve spent a fair amount of effort on this in recent months and years. Following major court rulings, we’ve revised our examination guidance, with input from all of you, multiple times and trained our examiners on the new guidance. And, we just announced in a Federal Register Notice two roundtables focused exclusively on the topic of patent eligible subject matter. At the first roundtable, held just yesterday, we discussed potential updates to our examination guidance, and at the second roundtable, on Dec. 5, we will discuss the impact of the current 101 jurisprudence on innovation, what changes might be considered to further support innovation, and whether such changes are best achieved legislatively, judicially or administratively. We thought it would be helpful to begin the public discussion, to create a record of where there is agreement or disagreement and what, if any, improvements would be helpful to make. We welcome your participation on this important and complex issue. As I hope you can see from this quick run-down of our initiatives, we are very excited about our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative. It is an ambitious effort that is yielding some results now and will yield even more in the future. To learn more about our progress to date, please join us – on December 13, at the USPTO, where we will spend a good part of the day sharing details of the results of each of the dozen or so Enhanced Patent Quality Initiatives. We think you will like what you hear.

We’ve clearly made tremendous progress over the past eight years, but of course, we have more work to do to further strengthen our patent system’s ability to promote innovation in our ever changing environment. As I said earlier, I’m optimistic the incoming administration will share our appreciation of the importance of intellectual property as a driver of economic growth. As I look ahead, I foresee legislative patent reform changes will continue to be discussed in Congress, though those conversations will likely occur later in the term after some of the other priorities including filling a Supreme Court vacancy, immigration and tax reform are addressed, and any legislative patent reform will likely be more targeted, rather than the comprehensive reforms we’ve seen in prior Congresses. I would hope any legislative proposal will take into account the numerous positive changes that have occurred recently in the patent system including: through the courts, including on attorneys fees, pleading requirements and discovery limits, and at the USPTO through the PTAB and the agency’s efforts to improve the quality of patents in our system. As far as issues, I predict legislative discussions may include venue reform and possibly changes to Section 101 and PTAB. On venue, with nearly half of the patent cases filed in 2015 filed in a single district out of 94 federal judicial districts, it is easy for critics to contend that plaintiffs seek out this district preferentially for the wrong reasons. And the mere perception that there are advantages to be gained by forum-shopping challenges the public’s faith in the patent system. So there will be continuing pressure for legislative (and likely judicial) action on the issue of venue. The scope of any legislative reform remains to be determined, but I predict that the focus will be on more targeted, rather than comprehensive reform as we saw these past couple Congresses. Further, I anticipate that the USPTO’s work across the globe to ensure that other countries have strong IP protections adequate enforcement mechanisms and remedies, and appropriate technology transfer (or licensing and competition) policies, will continue in the next Administration particularly in such countries as China and others. This is a President-elect that has promised economic growth and job creation in our country, and IP will necessarily be a key piece to achieving that goal.

With that, let me conclude by saying that I firmly believe that the USPTO is healthy, well-functioning and poised to successfully handle whatever challenges and opportunities lie ahead.  Our issues are important, complex and nuanced. And while not everyone will always agree with all that the agency does, we are well prepared and poised to work together to accomplish our shared priorities and address the challenges ahead. When President Obama was inaugurated in 2009, his focus was on leading this nation’s recovery from the Great Recession. One of his first acts was to ask the Smithsonian to provide for display in the Oval Office some patent models that demonstrated past American innovation that led to new jobs and new industries. The president said that throughout our history, Americans solved problems through innovation and IP. He wanted to see reminders of that every day as he encountered the challenges he faced. The Smithsonian provided him with three models: Samuel Morse’s telegraph (1849),  John Peer’s gear cutter (1874), and Henry Williams’ steamboat wheel (1877). As I stood behind the President in the Oval Office earlier this year when he signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act, I couldn’t help but notice those three models along the wall to my left—still there almost eight years later—and feel extraordinarily humbled and honored. I feel that same honor and humility today standing before all of you and reflecting on just how much we have accomplished under this administration.  I’ve been fortunate to lead the USPTO at a time when intellectual property issues have been front and center on the consciousness of the American public and President and to have had the opportunity to help guide the direction in a small way. My hope is that the President-elect keeps the patent models from Morse, Peer and Williams in his office as a reminder of the importance of intellectual property to the economic prosperity that I know he wants for our country.

Thank you for all your support of the work of my team and I know that we all will continue to work together to ensure that our greatest inventions are yet to come. Thank you."

Copyright © 2016 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO - Patent Quality Forum Series - November 2016

Today, the USPTO announced its Patent Quality Forum Series in a variety of locations in November 2016. This is an opportunity to learn about USPTO efforts to increase patent quality.

Copyright © 2016 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

Santa Clara University Law School - 2016 Corporate Intellectual Property Strategy Conference - November 17, 2016

Today, Santa Clara University Law School notified:

"The High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara Law is pleased to partner with Unified Patents, Inc. in hosting a 2016 Corporate Intellectual Property Strategy Conference at Santa Clara on November 17, 2016.  The conference will focus on PTAB trends and updates, patent quality and validity data, the current status of patent pools and standard-essential patents, as well as the secondary market for buying and selling patents.

The conference will take place from 1:00 pm to 5:30 pm on November 17, 2016 and is complimentary but requires registration.  For more information and to register online, visit the event page."

Copyright © 2016 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO - Proposed Fee Increase

The USPTO is proposing to increase fees. See the Federal Register Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

Today, Commissioner for Patents Drew Hirshfeld and Chief Judge of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board David Ruschke have a blog post which appears to be a justification for the proposed fee increase:

"The Patent and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) organizations continue to identify ways to deliver increasing value to the global intellectual property community. The USPTO has made tremendous progress reducing overall patent pendency, reducing our inventory of unexamined applications, enhancing patent examination quality, reducing the ex parte appeal inventory, and implementing the post-grant review proceedings established by the America Invents Act (AIA). While great progress has been made, there is still much to be accomplished.

Today, the USPTO issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) using the fee setting authority of the AIA to strategically change certain patent and PTAB fees. The targeted fee increases proposed in the NPRM are projected to produce approximately 5% more patent revenue each fiscal year once fully implemented. With the added funding, we aim to:

• Continue progress towards the goals and objectives of the USPTO FY 2014 – 2018 Strategic Plan including reaching target pendency and backlog levels
• Build upon the success of the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) and continue to strengthen the work products, processes, and services at all stages of the patent process
• Advance our multi-year effort to update our critical information technology infrastructure via solutions like Patents End-to-End (PE2E) and PTAB End-to-End (PTAB E2E)—modern, enterprise solutions designed to improve efficiency, enhance accountability, and provide greater stakeholder satisfaction during interactions with our organizations
• Support the PTAB’s continued efforts to recruit and hire staff to deliver high quality and timely decisions, particularly for AIA trials and reexamination and ex parte appeals
• Work towards an optimal reserve balance, which will enable the USPTO to maintain service delivery when faced with immediate and temporary changes in economic conditions and/or operating circumstances

After consultation with the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC), several key Patent organization fees have only modest increases, e.g.,utility filing, search, examination, and issue fees; others have slightly larger increases, e.g., design filing, search, examination, and issue fees. Small and micro entity fees remain in place to foster innovation among small businesses and independent inventors. Maintenance fees remain unchanged. We propose to increase slightly the request for continued examination (RCE) fees to better align them with our costs. Other fee proposals affect excess claims, information disclosure statement (IDS) submissions, and Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) fees among others. A full list of fee change proposals is available on the USPTO’s Fee Setting and Adjusting website.

For the PTAB organization, since the initial AIA patent fee rulemaking in 2013, ex parte appeal fees have enabled the PTAB to hire more judges and greatly reduce the appeals backlog, which reached over 27,000 (in 2012), to under 17,000 (in August 2016). Additional fee revenue from higher appeal fees will support further backlog and pendency reductions.

The PTAB has significantly strengthened capacity in recent years to manage its growing workload. The PTAB received more than 4,700 petitions for AIA trial proceedings since 2012 and has met every deadline set by Congress for such trials. In the last iteration of patent fee setting, we had to estimate both demand (e.g., workload) and cost with little data available for the Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs), Post Grant Reviews (PGRs), and Covered Business Method Reviews (CBMs). Now, with three years of historical cost data, we have better insights into the full cost of services and can better estimate demand, which enables the USPTO to align fees more appropriately. Still, compared to their FY 2015 unit cost, all of the trial fees remain at or below our cost to deliver the service and offer a lower-cost alternative to costly litigation.

Given our goal to support the global intellectual property community, we take fee setting very seriously and thoroughly analyze the effects of proposed fee changes on our stakeholders. Following the last AIA patent fee setting that became effective in March 2013, this current rulemaking is the result of a comprehensive biennial fee review that began in 2015 and concluded with a recommendation for additional, targeted fee adjustments to help us achieve the aims delineated above.

In keeping with the AIA fee setting process, the results of the comprehensive biennial fee review were presented to the PPAC in October 2015 as an initial fee setting proposal. The PPAC conducted a hearing in November 2015 and accepted public comments before preparing a written report in response to the initial proposal. The USPTO considered the PPAC report (released in February 2016) and as a result made several revisions to the initial proposal to arrive at the package of fee adjustments contained in the NPRM.

A 60-day public comment period has now opened, and we welcome feedback from our stakeholders. After reviewing the comments, we plan to prepare a final rule for publication during the summer of 2017. Comments on the fee proposals are due by December 2, 2016."

Copyright © 2016 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO - Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative - USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee

Director of the USPTO Michelle K. Lee continues to focus on the topic of patent quality:

"Patent quality is central to fulfilling a core mission of the USPTO, which as stated in the Constitution, is to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” It is critically important that the USPTO issue patents that are both Historically, our primary focus has been on correctness, but the evolving patent landscape has challenged us to increase our focus on clarity.

Patents of the highest quality can help to stimulate and promote efficient licensing, research and development, and future innovation without resorting to needless high-cost court proceedings. Through correctness and clarity, such patents better enable potential users of patented technologies to make informed decisions on how to avoid infringement, whether to seek a license, and/or when to settle or litigate a patent dispute. Patent owners also benefit from having clear notice on the boundaries of their patent rights. After successfully reducing the backlog of unexamined patent applications, our agency is redoubling its focus on quality.

We asked for your help on how we can best improve quality—and you responded. Since announcing the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative earlier this year, we received over 1,200 comments and extensive feedback during our first-ever Patent Quality Summit and roadshows, as well as invaluable direct feedback from our examining corps. This feedback has been tremendously helpful in shaping the direction of our efforts. And with this background, I’m pleased to highlight some of our initial programs under the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative.

First, we are preparing to launch a Clarity of the Record Pilot under which examiners will include as part of the prosecution record definitions of key terms, important claim constructions, and more detailed reasons for the allowance and rejection of claims. Based on the information we learn from this pilot, we plan to develop best examiner and applicant practices for enhancing the clarity of the record. We also will be launching a new wave of in the coming months emphasizing the benefits and importance of making the record clear and how to achieve greater clarity. Recently, we provided examiners with training on functional claiming and putting statements in the record when the examiner invokes 35 U.S.C. 112(f), which interprets claims under the broadest reasonable interpretation standard and secures a complete and enabled disclosure for a claimed invention. Training for the upcoming year includes an assessment of a fully described invention under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) and best practices for explaining indefiniteness rejections under 35 U.S.C. 112(b).

Second, we are Transforming Our Review Data Capture Process to ensure that reviews of an examiner’s work product by someone in the USPTO will follow the same process and access the same facets of examination. Historically, we have had many different types of quality reviews including supervisory patent examiner reviews of junior examiners and quality assurance team reviews of randomly selected examiner work product. Sometimes the factors reviewed by each differed, and the degree to which the review results were recorded. With only a portion of these review results recorded and different criteria captured in those recordings, the data gathered was not as complete, useful, or voluminous as it could have been. As a result, the USPTO has been able to identify statistically significant trends only on a corps-wide basis, but not at the technology center, art unit, or examiner levels. We are working to unify the review process for all reviewers and systematically record the same review results through an online form, called the “master review form,” which we intend to share with the public.

What are the implications of this new process and new form? This new process will give us the ability to collect and analyze a much greater volume of data from reviews that we were already doing, but that were not previously captured in a centralized, unified way. As we roll out this new review process the amount of data we collect will significantly increase anywhere from three to five times. This will allow us to use big data analytic techniques to identify more detailed trends across the agency based upon statistically significant data including at the technology center, art unit, and even examiner levels. Also, this new process will give us better insight into not just whether the law was applied correctly, but whether the reasons for an examiner’s actions were spelled out in the record clearly and whether there is an omission of a certain type of rejection. For example, for an obvious rejection we are considering not only whether a proper obvious rejection was made, but whether the elements identified in the prior art were mapped onto the claims, whether there are statements in the record explaining the rejection, and whether those statements are clear.

The end results will be the (1) ability to provide more targeted and relevant training to our examiners with much greater precision, (2) increased consistency in work product across the entire examination corps, and (3) greater transparency in how the USPTO evaluates examiners’ work product. You can read more about these and our many other initiatives, such as our pilot and Post Grant Outcomes, which incorporates insight from our Patent Trial and Appeal Board and other proceedings back into the examination process on our new Enhanced Patent Quality Initiativepage on our website.

Finally, let me close by emphasizing that our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative is not a “one-and-done” effort. Coming from the private sector, I know that any company that produces a truly top quality product has focused on quality for years, if not decades. The USPTO is committed to no less. The programs presented here are just a start. My goal in establishing a brand new department within the USPTO was to focus exclusively on patent quality and the newly created executive level position of Deputy Commissioner for Patent Quality will ensure enhanced quality now, and into the future. With your input we intend to identify additional ways we can enhance patent quality as defined by our patent quality pillars of excellence in work products, excellence in measuring patent quality, and excellence in customer service.

To that end, we will continue our stakeholder outreach and feedback collection efforts in various ways, such as our monthly. The next Patent Quality Chat webinar on November 10 will focus on the programs presented in this blog and our other quality initiatives. I encourage you to join in regularly to our Patent Quality Chats and visit the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative page on our website for more information. The website provides recordings of previous Quality Chats as well as upcoming topics for discussion. We are eager to hear from you about our Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative, so please continue to provide your feedback to WorldClassPatentQuality@uspto.gov. Thank you for collaborating with us on this exciting and important initiative!"

Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO & AIPLA - Co-host Roadshows on Patent Quality and AIA Trials August 24, 26, and 28, 2015

The USPTO notified of the following events:

"The USPTO is pleased to co-host with AIPLA a series of cross-country roadshows in August with stops in Santa Clara, California; Dallas, Texas; and Alexandria, Virginia. The full-day program will focus on enhancing patent quality (morning session) and conducting AIA trials (afternoon session) with numerous speakers from the USPTO as well as private practice.

CLE is available, and lunch is included. To register to attend, please visit: http://www.aipla.org/learningcenter/AIARoadShows/Pages/default.aspx

Hope to see you there for a full day of learning from the experts

Schedule:

Monday, August 24, 2015

• Santa Clara University, Locatelli Center
• Co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute of Santa Clara Law

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

• Belo Mansion, Dallas
• Co-sponsored by the IP Section of the Dallas Bar Association

Friday, August 28, 2015

• USPTO headquarters, Madison Auditorium

Agenda:

9:00 - 9:10 am: Opening Remarks

9:10 to 9:45 am: Track 1: Patent Quality Initiative Overview

9:45 to 10:45 am: Track 2: Clarity of the Record and Drafting High Quality Applications

10:45 to 11 am: Break

11:00 to Noon: Track 3: Interviews and Measuring Quality

Noon to 1:30 pm: Lunch - Luncheon Speaker: Russell Slifer, Deputy Director of the USPTO

1:30 to 1:50 pm: Track 4: PTAB State of the Board

1:50 to 2:45 pm: Track 5: Proposed AIA Trial Rule Changes

2:45 to 3:30 pm: Track 6: Hot Issues in AIA Trials

3:30 to 4 pm: Break

4 to 5 pm: Track 7: Actual AIA Trial Hearing

Speakers Include:

USPTO:

• Valencia Martin Wallace, Deputy Commissioner of Patent Quality
• Sandie Spyrou, Senior Quality Assurance Specialist in the Office of Patent Quality Management
• Bob Bahr, Senior Patent Counsel in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy
• Tim Callahan, Director of Technology Center 2400
• Marty Rater, Chief Statistician in the Office of Patent Quality Assurance
• Vice Chief Judge Scott Boalick
• Lead Judge Susan Mitchell
• Judge Peter Chen
• Judge Miriam Quinn
• Judge Linda Horner
• Lead Judge Matt Clements
• Judge Tina Hulse
• Judge Stacey White
• Judge Georgianna Braden
• Lead Judge Mike Tierney
• Judge Sally Medley

Practitioners

• Tom Irving, Finnegan Henderson
• Courtenay Brinckerhoff, Foley Lardner
• Ken Nigon, RatnerPrestia
• Professor Collen Chien, Santa Clara Law School
• Brad Pederson, Patterson Thuente
• Erika Arner, Finnegan Henderson
• Sharon Israel, Mayer Brown
• David McCombs, Haynes and Boone
• Todd Baker, Oblon
• Dorothy Whelan, Fish & Richardson
• William Noon, Illumina"

Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.

USPTO - Patent Quality - Examiner Interviews & USPTO Tools - Tuesday, July 14

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.

USPTO - Patent Quality Summit March 25 - 26

The USPTO has announced a Patent Quality Summit at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA on March 25 - 26, 2015. Each segment will be also accessible on WebEx. The intent is to provide an opportunity for the public to discuss proposals to ensure efficient prosecution and issuance of the highest quality of patents.

Copyright © 2015 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.