A cabal within Foley & Lardner, spearheaded by Philip Kiko and Stephen Maebius, and cheered on by patent rogue Hal Wegner, have faxed a letter to Susan Dudley, director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (ORIA) Administrator of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

OMB reviews federal government agencies rule-making under aegis of Executive Order 12866, issued by President Clinton in 1993.

Hal Wegner:

Several companies and industry groups are actively seeking ways to share in helping the PTO create better rules. Industry groups seeking more cooperation with the consortium are invited to contact its counsel, Philip G. Kiko, until recently General Counsel and Chief of Staff of the House Judiciary Committee and now a member of the Government & Public Affairs Practice Group of Foley & Lardner and Stephen B. Maebius, Chair of the firm's Nanotechnology Industry Team.

From the letter:

We recognize the importance of making the patent examination process more efficient. But, because the PTO did not do – or at least did not disclose – any analysis of the effect these two rule packages might have on innovation or the economy, or on internal efficiency (as opposed to mere input), we are very skeptical that the most cost-effective solution involves curtailing of continuations and the number of claims per application. Application backlogs at the PTO might be resolved by less restrictive means, including internal reforms at the PTO itself. Restrictions on continuation applications are particularly suspect, because these patents tend to generate the highest filing and maintenance fees for proportionally the least amount of work – it appears that current PTO management is trying to do something about today’s problem by restricting tomorrow’s revenue flow.