Hal Wegner -

According to a study of PTO statistics by Stephen B. Maebius, out of 300 accelerated examination petitions that have been considered, 241 have been denied. Phrased differently, only 19% of the accelerated examination requests have passed procedural muster.

Imposition of a procedure so complex and fraught with uncertainties so that eighty-one (81) percent fail clearly shows a shortcoming in PTO management.

The "Examination Support Document" or ESD is roughly equivalent in complexity to the process of a petition for accelerated examination.

PTO Guidelines for Examination Support Document (ESD), September 6, 2007, manifest precisely the sham nature of the ESD program as a way to compel compliance with the "5/25" claiming rule that becomes effective November 1, 2007.

The PTO should operate under the rule of law and have the statute changed, if that’s what’s best as a matter of public policy, and not create arcane and impossible to follow regulations that represent sham procedures to circumvent the statute.

Blatant Anti-Foreigner Attitudes: The antithesis of "patent worksharing" is the dismissal in the Guidelines of any value being assigned to a foreign patent office search report.

Per the Guidelines, "[a] search from a foreign patent office … will not automatically satisfy the requirement for a preexamination search, unless it includes the information required by 37 CFR [§] 1.265." Neither reasonable patent applicants searching for a U.S. application nor a fortiori a foreign patent office conducts a search that meets the parameters of this rule, particularly as expressly spelled out in the Guidelines.