April 20, 2010
Short Straw
09/310,880
(Harari) traced its priority date linage back to June 8, 1988.
5,828,601 (Hollmer) was filed December 1, 1993, with no antecedent. So how
do these two get into an interference, and Harari's claim to invention draws the
short straw? USPTO incompetence!
Continue reading "Short Straw"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:03 PM | Prosecution | Comments (2)
April 14, 2010
Floored
The
rampaging incompetence of the USPTO is dammed only by appeal to the courts. Time
and again, the PTO's "broadest reasonable interpretation" of claims is hell and
gone from reasonable. Case in point:
4,944,514, owned by Suitco Surface, which got a hard buffeting from the
patent board in reexam, but reprieve from the CAFC.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:57 AM | Prior Art | Comments (5)
January 19, 2010
Scan This
"Believe
it or not, in our patent office -- now, this is embarrassing -- this is an
institution responsible for protecting and promoting innovation -- our patent
office receives more than 80 percent of patent applications electronically, then
manually prints them out, scans them, and enters them into an outdated case
management system. This is one of the reasons why the average processing time
for a patent is roughly three years." - President Obama
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:57 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
January 8, 2010
Nabbed
However
one may wish the USPTO well, they certainly are stingy bastards, seemingly bent
on cheating their constituency, inventors, at every turn. Herein, Wyeth has to
fight all the way to the CAFC to get their patent legally extended because the
patent office was tardy in allowing a grant. This episode is a sad comment on
David Kappos, early in his tenure at the helm of the agency.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:22 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (48)
December 31, 2009
Broken: The USPTO
This begins a series on what is wrong with patents in this country.
The constitutional goal of patents is "to promote the progress of science and
useful arts." But patents present irrepressible
contradictions of purpose by the players of the patent game, and the pursuit of
self interest by the players reveals their flaws and limits. Which is to say that the room for improvement would fit the several
elephants of what is obviously wrong, but seldom
acknowledged by those involved. Aside from incompetence, which weighs in heavily, two factors
stress the patent system: politics and money. Let's begin with the place where patents are
birthed: the patent office.
Continue reading "Broken: The USPTO"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:53 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (18)
December 12, 2009
Fig Leaf
The
USPTO proves itself a political creature (again) with a
pilot program to
fast-track so-called green technology patent applications. "Every day an
important green tech innovation is hindered from coming to market is another day
we harm our planet and another day lost in creating green businesses and green
jobs," spouted agency Director David Kappos. 3,000 applications, out of 770,000
pending, are deemed green enough.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:10 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 15, 2009
Heritage of the Heretic
In
the ultimate backfire, political hack Jon Dudas has left his mark on the patent
office. Dudas demeaned the PTO by being openly hostile to its bread-and-butter
clientele, patent applicants, with proposed rules that would limit claims and
even applications, in a banal attempt to address pendency. Challenged by Dr. Triantafyllos Tafas, with GlaxoSmithKline riding shotgun, the district court
shot the agency down. The PTO appealed.
Continue reading "Heritage of the Heretic"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:15 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (10)
November 6, 2009
One Upmanship
Inventors and small companies, flush with money burning a hole in their
pockets, regularly file an excess of crappy patent applications. Belatedly recognizing this inviolable
fact, the patent office now promises to shoot you in the head faster if you'll
shoot yourself in the foot first.
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO David Kappos has announced the agency intends to launch a pilot program that will give small entity inventors having two or more patent applications currently pending greater control over the priority in which their applications are examined while also reducing the backlog of unexamined patent applications pending before the USPTO. This pilot will allow a patent application from a small entity to receive special, accelerated status if the applicant is willing to abandon an application that has not been examined. [USPTO press release]
Continue reading "One Upmanship"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:59 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
September 4, 2009
Junk Examination
To
characterize USPTO examination quality over
the past 20 years as uneven would be a complimentary understatement. 'Good
enough for government work' would be more like it, with 'shoddy' pithily
on-point. In the 1990s the PTO granted reams of junk patents, creating a
political firestorm as the junk hit the litigation fan. In the past few
years, the reaction by a politicized patent office has been a sphincter of parsimony: not granting patents for deserved
inventions. Herein a case in point.
Continue reading "Junk Examination"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:32 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (105)
August 4, 2009
Shortchanged
Jorge
Tayler was mistakenly $10 short on his patent maintenance fee payment. The USPTO
later declared his patent dead because of it, in violation of its own rulebook,
the MPEP. "The PTO was arbitrary and capricious in its failure to notify Mr.
Taylor of the minor insufficiencies in his attempted payment of a patent
maintenance fee," so ruled the CAFC (2009-1133).
The patent office does this sort of thing habitually: taking fees and then
unreasonably denying the action for which the fee was paid, as well as refusing
refund.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:05 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (22)
August 2, 2009
Sop
6,310,269
claims a tampon with a solid fiber core denser than radially projecting ribs,
the ribs being narrower at their base at the core than at their distal ends.
McNeil, the patent holder, requested reexamination based upon an uncited
Japanese patent application. The examiner rejected the claims over the prior
art, and the BPAI agreed. McNeil appealed to the CAFC.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:41 PM | Prior Art | Comments (34)
July 11, 2009
Peers on Hiatus
The
Peer-to-Patent pilot project is now closed. From the Peer-to-Patent website:
The USPTO has closed the Peer-to-Patent pilot and is no longer accepting new applications. Applications already in the system will continue to be processed.
More than 70 applications still await review, and it is rumored that the program is only temporarily closed - until a full evaluation of the impact of the project can be performed.
Continue reading "Peers on Hiatus"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:40 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (10)
Examiner Responsibility
USPTO examiners are the butt of
many a joke on this blog, and often for good reason, receiving the respect they
deserve. But, many examiners fulfill an essential need. They act as
underappreciated civil servants that help promote the progress of this country,
in a job that is tedious, monotonous, and often unfulfilling. Some
even recognize the huge social responsibility that rests on their
shoulders, and use this as the vehicle that propels them forward day in and day
out. To those examiners - thank you.
Continue reading "Examiner Responsibility"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:14 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (7)
July 9, 2009
Bailout
Mismanagement
at the USPTO gets a thumbs up from Congress. The House went along with the
Senate in passing a bill Tuesday that would let the PTO rob its trademark kitty
to tide over its dwindling patent piggy bank. In a politically inspired
balk (from mega-computer/software companies whining about being incessantly hammered for infringement),
the patent office has been rejecting patent applications with religious fervor in recent
years, grievously wounding the goose formerly known for laying golden eggs. In
an ironic twist of a concept called accountability, the Congressional measure
includes a surcharge to punish patent-pleading goslings. If people everywhere
would all simply agree that the old ways are the best, none of this would be
necessary.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:11 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (14)
July 7, 2009
Unappealing
The
USPTO is doing its bit to boost patent prosecutor income while dashing applicant
hopes. Thanks to unprecedented rejection rates, appeal filings have spiked 70%
this year: 10,870 appeals this fiscal year to 6,385 last year. The PTO cites
"controlling case law" as the reason. Appeals are the most expensive bit of
prosecution, running to thousands of dollars, with complex appeals costing tens
of thousands. The fruits of appeal have soured - in fiscal 2008, 44% of appeals
resulted in issuance, down from 66% five years ago, and 71% in 2000.
Continue reading "Unappealing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:54 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (46)
Another Round
The
CAFC has granted en banc rehearing of Tafas & GSK v. Doll, over the PTO
proposed continuation and claims limitations. The
order did not state why it had
decided to take another gander. In the first round, to general dismay, the
CAFC
panel ruled 2-1 that the rules were merely procedural, not substantive,
overturning the reality-based verdict of the district court. The CAFC had found
the continuations limits contrary to the law (35 U.S.C. § 120), although one
could suppose, based on CAFC logic, little substance to that as well. Consistent
as a drunken monkey, there's no telling what the entire CAFC might come up with in
its round 2 decision.
Continue reading "Another Round"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:51 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 26, 2009
Convenience of Coincidence
Decisions made at the UPSTO have
ironically spawned an anti-patent culture at the very institute created to
protect innovation. These decisions have consequences. Conveniently though,
the US economy has tanked, providing the PTO with a thick sheet of smoke to help
veil countless managerial missteps. Knowing his role as smoke machine, Acting
Director John Doll recently provided a financial update of the patent office,
transferring blame and hoping for a bailout.
Continue reading "Convenience of Coincidence"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 1:00 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (8)
June 21, 2009
Shoo-in
The
fix is in. Movers and shakers in the patent community are falling down squirting
over Dave Kappos as USPTO honcho.
CongressDaily reports praise from Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy
and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke (as if a cabinet member is going to toot
another horn on his President's pick). The man tried-and-tested at running the
PTO into the ground, the irrepressible "Foley & Lardner attorney Jon Dudas, who
served as PTO director in the Bush administration, said Kappos is an excellent
choice." "The Coalition for Patent Fairness and Innovation Alliance, which have
been at odds over pending legislation, both backed Kappos."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:30 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
June 18, 2009
Waste Not...
President Obama
announced today nominees for two related governmental posts: Director,
Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Department of Energy; and Under
Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United
States Patent and Trademark Office. Warren F. "Pete" Miller, Jr., a part-time
Professor at Texas A&M University, got the easier job. Managing the real
radioactive waste went to David J. Kappos, who, as long-time corporate mook, has
shaped IBM patent policy, publicly
spouting horse
hockey in the process. People have been known to rise to a position,
garnering dignity. Let's hope these boys are up to the job of containing the
waste.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:09 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (8)
June 15, 2009
USPTO Beta Site
The USPTO has released a new beta version of its website, "redesigned to
improve the look and feel, as well as to enhance the user experience with
improved navigation." While the new site is not yet entirely up to date, the
layout appears much improved over the current dreadful design. Feedback may be submitted via Google moderator.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:22 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
June 12, 2009
Appeal of Appeal
Patent allowances are way down, hence appeals are way up. Since January, the BPAI
backlog has nearly doubled to over 10,000 pending
appeals. At the current rate of 500 disposals per month, the backlog would take
over 20 months to eliminate, not accounting for new appeals that are being filed at a rate 2 1/2 times faster than the Board's disposal rate.
Continue reading "Appeal of Appeal"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 1:05 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
May 23, 2009
Change A'Coming?
Gene Quinn relates insight from
Mark Malek, fellow attorney at Zies
Widerman & Malek, who spoke recently with an anonymous examiner who
"told Mark that about 2 weeks ago management told the examining corps that they
need to start issuing patents." Possibly a bit of sunshine in an otherwise
dreary era at the PTO.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 8:30 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (29)
May 14, 2009
The Problem
The
backlog in the USPTO is one enormous statement of managerial incompetence.
Nothing more. Singularly, what the Office has sorely lacked, and still lacks, is
competent leadership. Jon Dudas was the Dubya of patents. For both, this nation
is paying an incredible price, and will for years to come. Unless and until
effective management is on board, with its eye on the ball of examination
quality, and all that entails, all the other recommendations are stillborn to
spurring solutions.
Continue reading "The Problem"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:10 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
April 13, 2009
Hunkering Down
The
USPTO is battening the hatches for the turbulent waves of the current economic
storm. Herein, today's "USPTO Weekly Extra - Budget Update: Supplemental on Training
and Other Issues."
Continue reading "Hunkering Down"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:54 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (13)
April 10, 2009
Gimped
Acting
Director John Doll sent this memo around the shop: "As
you know, the USPTO has made a number of difficult budgetary decisions this
fiscal year. Among these challenging decisions is that to limit - as detailed
in the
attached memorandum - even revenue-generating overtime. All Patents
production, revenue-generating overtime will be limited, effective Sunday, April
12, 2009."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:33 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (28)
March 23, 2009
Going Bankrupt?
A
patent is a piece of intellectual property, a mortgage granted by the
patent bank, the USPTO. The patent bank has failed, owing to managerial
ineptitude. Will mismanagement hurtle it towards fiscal dilemma and further
alienation of its mortgage holders, or will it turn the corner, back to a more
historical norm?
Continue reading "Going Bankrupt?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (21)
March 20, 2009
Procedural Kowtow
The
CAFC considers most everything a matter of law. Substance/facts are a legal
inconvenience best boxed so that the entire container can be subject to
rule-of-law disposition. With that mindset firmly entrenched, a confusion
between substance and procedure is natural. So it was in Tafas v. Doll,
formerly Tafas v. Dufas. At least the CAFC still ponders whether rules
conflict with laws, though "consistency with the Patent Act is not the
touchstone of whether the rules are procedural or substantive."
Continue reading "Procedural Kowtow"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (28)
March 5, 2009
Qualifications
Roberta
Morris of Stanford Law School has prepared a
mock application form for
Director of the USPTO. It's nicely done, and misses the large point.
Whatever checkboxes of experiential minutiae a Director candidate may claim, the
challenge is conceptual, and managerial. Does a candidate really understand
what the patent office is supposed to do - namely, carefully inspect
applications, so as to grant based upon merit, within the boundaries defined by
statute and case law? Not treat patents as a political hot potato, as Dudas did. And does the candidate have a sense of resource, rule, and
people management, to optimize productivity while not succumbing to
production-line mentality? All the experience in the world won't clue someone
conceptually clueless, and a relative patent greenhorn with the right headset
might do just fine.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:53 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
January 31, 2009
Exhuming Examination
Whatever
the USPTO proposes for deferred examination (DE), and it surely will, the likely outcomes won't amount to a hill of beans. As a salve to pendency, DE as a dud is an easy bet.
Continue reading "Exhuming Examination"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:32 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (5)
January 29, 2009
Procrastination
John
Doll isn't treading water as interim PTO honcho. He's busting a move to not bust
a move examining patents. On a web page titled "Closing
of the United States Patent and Trademark Office," the USPTO announced a
"public roundtable discussion" February 12, about adopting a procedure for
deferred examination, "in response to suggestions from stakeholders in the
intellectual property (IP) community" who want to tread water. [Federal
Register pdf]
Continue reading "Procrastination"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:54 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (37)
January 7, 2009
'Peter Principle' Poster Boy Moves On
USPTO
Director Jon W. Dudas is rumored to be resigning. Since taking office in July
2004, Dudas has displayed unprecedented aptitude for infantile outbursts against
PTO employees and patentees; instilling opacity in agency operations enviable to
Soviet apparatchiks; astonishing duplicity in diminishing patent quality while
paying lip service to it; illegal, albeit futile gestures in changing
examination rules; slave-driving employees with counterproductive production
goals at the expense of decent examination; bodacious benign neglect of patent
pendency, a tacit admission that the PTO is a lousy place to work, and nothing
to be done about that except frenzied hiring; and roiling the patent community
into a state of nonplus. Dudas will be sorely missed by commentators needing
blog fodder.
Continue reading "'Peter Principle' Poster Boy Moves On"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:11 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
January 6, 2009
Post-Board Muleage
Examiners consistently rely on baseless rejections, hoping applicants won't realize examiner ignorance, explore examiner incompetence, nor argue against examiner authority. Often, applicants amend or file RCEs, allowing examiners to milk applicants for all the counts they're worth. Rarer is the filing of an appeal brief, which can force examiners to abandon the charade and reopen prosecution. For rejections that actually make it to the board of appeals, and are subsequently overturned by the BPAI, it may be thought that allowance is in store. But Dennis Crouch
shone light on the fact that, about 20% of the time, examiner stubbornness lives on, even after being shot down by the board.
Continue reading "Post-Board Muleage"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:16 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
December 25, 2008
Gin Rummy
The
U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows it knows how to stew analytic gumbo - its
recommendations for the USPTO seamlessly blend fact and fiction.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:24 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
December 17, 2008
Tossed
Asokkumar
Pal looked away from the screen and wiped his eyes. He was tired. He'd been with
the agency 25 years. A long haul. Now it had crumbled away, as if he was a wad
of paper, to be used and tossed. It wasn't right. He did the best he could. His
resolve stiffened. He would not go quietly.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:06 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (7)
December 14, 2008
Backlog
The
root problem with patent quality has always been with the patent office. The
current USPTO administration has rightly received nothing but criticism for its
high-handed rules changes, poisonous work environment leading to massive
attrition, shoddy examination regime, and blame game on applicants. In testimony
last week before Congress, former PTO heads nattered about backlog.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:42 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (10)
December 5, 2008
Dead Man's Hand
Lame
duck USPTO lawyer James Toupin did his best to sew a silk purse from a sow's ear
in oral arguments at the CAFC today, in
USPTO v. Tafas &
GSK. Of course, anyone who will say anything to win arguments is oxymoronic
to having integrity. In this case, the disgraceful USPTO argued that its rules
to limit continuations are piddling, while the reality is the rule changes are
substantial, and the likely impacts considerable.
Continue reading "Dead Man's Hand"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:24 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (63)
December 4, 2008
Distinction
The
USPTO rules changes successfully challenged by Dr. Tafas and GlaxoSmithKline
head to oral arguments before the CAFC Friday. The beetles in the patent office
rolling their dung ball up the hill this far practically defines the difference
between determined cunning and intelligence.
Continue reading "Distinction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:14 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
November 27, 2008
Suppression
Hal
"The Snoop" Wegner: "The PTO has systematically suppressed access to its
internal decisions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that access to petitions
decisions would reveal widespread practice violations by Examiners, sometimes
upheld by Technology Center Directors as well. [There is a] PTO burial of key
information amongst tens of thousands of at best difficult to access petitions
decisions, as well as a cover-up of PTO delay in reaching decisions on petitions
in patent (as opposed to trademark) matters."
Continue reading "Suppression"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:35 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (10)
November 20, 2008
Perfection
Throw the confetti; break out the champagne; the USPTO has finally achieved perfection. According to the USPTO's FY 2008 Performance and Accountability Report, the PTO has met 100-percent of its performance goals. We can all stop worrying about poor examination quality and dishonest mis-management, because this is perfection baby!
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 9:28 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
November 18, 2008
Musical Chairs
With
USPTO Deputy Director Margaret Peterlin vamoose, John Doll steps in, with Deputy
Commissioner for Patent Operations Margaret ("Peggy") Focarino filling Doll's
erstwhile Commissioner for Patents chair. Effective immediately. Both Doll and Focarino have been with the Office for over 30 years.
Continue reading "Musical Chairs"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:55 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
November 17, 2008
Pay to Play
New
37 CFR § 11.8 now requires an annual $118 "practitioner maintenance fee," payable in
advance, for all registered USPTO agents. Penalty for non-payment is suspension.
Pro se prosecutors are still scot free.
Continue reading "Pay to Play"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:43 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 12, 2008
Discipline
Patent practitioners take note. As of September 15, committing any crime,
including those of immodest moral turpitude, such as being caught for commercial
engagement of prosecution in your pants, can result in revoking your
"privilege" to prosecute before the USPTO. Even a driving violation conviction must
be reported to the PTO.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:36 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
October 27, 2008
Down The Road Kill
The
USPTO proposed rules on information disclosure statements (IDS) and on
applications with Markush claims will not be published as final rules by the
current Administration, PTO Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations Margaret
Focarino announced last Friday.
Continue reading "Down The Road Kill"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:15 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
October 18, 2008
Term Limits
One might
naively imagine that the patent office would encourage patenting, and seek to offer its clientele, namely inventors and patent prosecutors, every advantage. Today's USPTO is quite the opposite. In this episode, the patent office is caught stealing patent term, unlawfully limiting
the duration of patent grants.
Continue reading "Term Limits"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:46 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
October 16, 2008
Let's Do It Our Way
The USPTO has filed
a reply brief in appeal for its righteous battle to enact its Final Solution, changes
limiting extravagance on claims and continuations. According to the
brief, a rehash of earlier cogent and compelling arguments, the rules are consistent with the Patent
Act, and are within the Office's rulemaking authority. If there is a difference between "substance" and "procedure," which the PTO
does not perceive, the rules are merely procedural.
Continue reading "Let's Do It Our Way"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:21 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
October 12, 2008
Bad Apples
Straight from the horse's mouth: "here at the USPTO, we got nothing but bad apples". Reflecting on end-of-year examiner performance ratings, USPTO upper management sputtered "that it wasn't possible that the agency had that many outstanding employees".
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 5:27 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (7)
September 28, 2008
Flashback Foresight
World War II was coming to an end, Bing Crosby was playing on the radio, and Patent Office Commissioner Casper W. Ooms was professing:
It has been brought to my attention that the practice prevails [in] the Patent Office of measuring the "amount of work accomplished" by Assistant Examiners during particular periods of time by assigning quotas of production.... This practice necessarily emphasizes quantity rather than quality of work.
Continue reading "Flashback Foresight"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:13 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
September 2, 2008
Fire Eater
Patents
become a public nuisance when worth a pretty penny. Hal Wegner thinks the price
tag of infringement should have flamed the NTP patent reexaminations.
"With a $600 million plus settlement in one litigation coupled with ongoing
litigations against other alleged infringers, BlackBerryGate represents a
billion dollar... patent tax on the public. Yet, the reexamination drags on... and
on... and on." Having granted patents, found valid through the fire of litigation,
the PTO ought to burn the midnight oil to staunch further enforcement. "A
fiasco," Wegner laments.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:58 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
August 24, 2008
The Power of Arsy
Patent examiners have been
getting a bad rap in the patent blogosphere. Insults attacking their competence, work ethic, intelligence, moral character, and English skills are flung.
In moments of weakness, this author has occasionally chimed in. But examiner incompetence should not be
so easily disparaged. It should instead be respected and appreciated as better than the alternative.
Continue reading "The Power of Arsy"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 6:28 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (10)
August 19, 2008
Unoriginal
In
a shocking, unprecedented ruling, one branch of government stands up for
another. Cooper Technologies had a continuation patent subjected to inter partes
reexamination. Cooper carped that wasn't kosher, as the original (first)
application was filed in 1993, and the law stated that "the inter partes
reexamination procedure is available for "any patent that issues from an
original application filed in the United States on or after" November 29,
1999." Apparently paid by the word, the CAFC reminded Cooper that "original" was
just a word, subject to interpretation, and government agencies, such as the
USPTO, have interpretation presumption on their side.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:13 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
August 18, 2008
Vacuum Suction
Hal
Wegner cited "an informed source" that John Doll is likely to be the Acting
Director of the USPTO in 2009, upon the expected departure of political hack and
pathetic sack Jon Dudas. "A nonstatutory arrangement between Commerce and the
PTO makes the Commissioner for Patents the Acting Director in the absence of a
superior political appointee."
Continue reading "Vacuum Suction"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:05 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
August 14, 2008
Patent Agent
The
USPTO has promulgated its
final
rule for CFR changes of authorized activities and sanctions for patent and
trademark agents. The comments warn that being a patent agent does not cover
activities, not necessary to prosecution, which would constitute practicing law.
Continue reading "Patent Agent"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:20 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 13, 2008
Remedy
With
breathtaking alacrity for legislative enactment, President Bush signed into law
revision of 35 U.S.C., the patent law, and the Trademark Act (of 1946),
transferring authority of appointing administrative patent and trademark judges
to the Secretary of Commerce. An unconstitutional 1999 law had let the USPTO
director appoint the judges. Further, the Commerce secretary may retroactively
repair the breach by waving a wand of approval over the current crew of
judges.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:53 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 11, 2008
Business as Usual
The
hoary adage "where there's smoke, there's fire" seems to apply.
Law.com
reported on USPTO favoritism for RIM and against NTP during their lawsuit, with
apparent continuing punishment of NTP by malign neglect.
Continue reading "Business as Usual"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:38 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
August 7, 2008
Just the Fax
The
USPTO "is proposing to revise the rules of practice to limit the types of
correspondence that may be submitted to the Office by facsimile." The successful
1988 trial program is now deemed not so successful. The office recommends its
web-based EFS (Electronic
Filing System). [from the
Federal
Register]
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:06 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (7)
August 6, 2008
Junket
Considering that USPTO management spawns from Congressional aides, payback in
the form of a junket to Copenhagen, Denmark should raise eyebrows only for its
destination, not its blatant toadying. The
Washington Post:
"The purpose of the trip," Jefferson D. Taylor, chief of the USPTO office of congressional relations, says in his invite, sent to aides on the Senate and House Judiciary subcommittees on intellectual property, "is for discussions on issues related to intellectual property rights" and such and to "meet with local patent and trademark office representatives, members of industry" and American businessmen in Denmark, and -- our favorite -- to "visit with students and staff of the Copenhagen Business School, University of Denmark."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:55 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
August 4, 2008
Hubris
The
USPTO has unveiled a new electronic "portrait gallery" "highlighting past
and present individuals who have made a contribution to America's intellectual
property (IP) system." Included are "digital electronic portraits of United
States Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison; famous inventor Thomas
Edison; National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees Helen Free, who developed home
testing for diabetes, and Steve Wozniak, the inventor and co-founder of Apple
Computer; and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director
of the USPTO Jon Dudas."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:46 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
July 29, 2008
Nincompooped
USPTO Deputy Director Margaret J.A. Peterlin is throwing in the towel, not a day too soon. From the PTO announcement:
In addition to enhancing operational efficiencies, Deputy Under Secretary Peterlin strategically positioned the USPTO as a leader in such important policy debates as patent modernization legislation, in which the USPTO played a lead role in forming and communicating the Administration's position.
Continue reading "Nincompooped"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:52 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
July 18, 2008
Hiding Peas
A
recently published UPSTO Federal Register Notice regarding paperwork burdens for the proposed
appeals rule change is oddly missing from all PTO lists of Federal Register Notices.
The wafting scent is that this is something more than oversight, instead, a
continuation of a two-year trend of failing to give sufficient notice of opportunity for public comment.
Continue reading "Hiding Peas"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 2:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 16, 2008
Fattening Peer
The
USPTO is extending and expanding its Peer Review pilot program. While the
original pilot was limited to "computer-related arts," the program is porking to
eat business method applications too. 400 possible published applications will
sweat it out under public grilling, up from the original 250. The pilot is
extended for another year; now scheduled to end June 15, 2009.
Continue reading "Fattening Peer"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 7, 2008
Peer-to-Petering Out
Peer-to-Patent declared itself a success in its First Anniversary Report. Self flattery had patent blogger praise piled on. The hoopla is not entirely unmerited. What a great concept: the patent community contributing back to the patent system, examination quality improving with an influx of peer-cited art, and pendency decreasing without the PTO lifting a finger. Sounds like a win-win-win. Too bad we don't all live in Tuvalu, where scalability would not be an issue.
Continue reading "Peer-to-Petering Out"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 10:47 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
June 24, 2008
Tele-Cost
In their June newsletter/sobfest, POPA reiterates concerns over proposed changes to the PTO telework program. The proposed changes would eliminate the one-hour-per-week in office requirement for examiners, but would require examiners to cover all costs when traveling to the PTO headquarters on an "as needed" basis. POPA's concern: malicious supervisors interpreting "as needed" as "as wanted".
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 7:11 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (21)
June 16, 2008
One Forward, Two Back
The US patent system is unraveling as the USPTO desperately clings to the telework thread as a last hope for reducing pendency. POPA reports that "management has proposed legislation which would allow the agency to permit employees to telework from anywhere in the United States". Yet POPA laments that this latest effort "would not require the agency to pay for employees' travel when the agency requires them to report to USPTO headquarters" and that "management also wants to pay telework employees according to the locality in which the employees actually live and work".
Continue reading "One Forward, Two Back"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:57 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (11)
Impropriety
Praise be to Kevin E. Noonan at Patent Docs for follow-through on the low-down of the apparent improprieties by the dastardly Dudas and the USPTO in the NTP v. RIM litigation and reexamination.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:43 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 15, 2008
Answers, Of A Sort
House
Judiciary Subcommittee Chair Rep. Berman posed
questions
to the Jon Dudas patent cabal last month. Dudas
dutifully replied.
Continue reading "Answers, Of A Sort"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:11 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
The Snake
Criticism
of the USPTO has reached comical proportions, and the joke is on us: inventors
and prosecutors. When there is a universal howl from the U.S. patent bar about
the agency, while the PTO itself crows about a lurch down in allowance rate,
and a federal court rules that the PTO acting illegally, you may think something afoot.
Joff Wild of IAM
Magazine, sitting comfortably across the pond in merry old England, wonders.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:55 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (6)
June 9, 2008
Numptys
Hal
Wegner:Broadside criticism of individual examiners doing their daily tasks should be out of bound (sic) and, a fortiori, spineless, anonymous criticism of individual examiners by a practitioner either crosses an ethical or disciplinary line - or such a line should be sharply drawn to deal with such reprehensible conduct.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:08 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (13)
May 12, 2008
In The Weeds
Rep.
Howard Berman, Chairman of the House subcommittee overseeing the USPTO, does his
job in an
April
29 letter to PTO Director Jon Dudas, demanding answers: did you sully the
agency's reputation by consorting with RIM when it was under the gun from NTP,
and you had NTP patents under reexamination?; why haven't you considered
deferred examination?; explain inconsistencies in patent application projection
for the future; document methodology in meeting application demand; why so
pig-headedly clueless about examiner attrition?; justify managerial lurching in
its various incarnations. One surmises from such inquiries that, under Dudas'
direction, the PTO hasn't exactly been on the path of probity.
Continue reading "In The Weeds"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:32 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
May 8, 2008
Squealing
It's
official.
Elvis Costello to the contrary, clown time is not over. The USPTO is
appealing dénouement of illegality accorded its proposed examination rule
changes.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:04 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
May 6, 2008
An Inconvenient Truth
The
New York
Times gives pesky perfectionist professor John F. Duffy his 15 minutes of
fame. Duffy had the temerity to finger the criminal gang commonly known as
Congress for passing a law in 1999 letting the USPTO director appoint appeal board judges. Only one thing wrong with that: it's unconstitutional.
Continue reading "An Inconvenient Truth"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:58 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
April 30, 2008
Garbage In
Jon
W. Dudas, USPTO numero uno: "We are getting more and more unpatentable
ideas, worse and worse quality applications." Craven worm lying through his
teeth, or imbecile trying to impress the rubes? You be the judge.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:28 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (14)
April 28, 2008
Nothing Doing
CAFC
Judge Linn
wondered out loud last week about the quality of BPAI, the patent appeals
board. Small wonder. Last year,
John Duffy
opined that a
35 U.S.C. §6, enacted in 1999, is unconstitutional under
Article 2.
The 1999 Act allowed the PTO Director to appoint BPAI judges, but Article 2
requires that such "inferior" officials be appointed, at the least, by a
department head, which the PTO honcho is not. Translogic took up the
cudgel,
petitioning the Supreme Court after the CAFC demurred. It's an easy bet that
SCOTUS won't weigh in.
Continue reading "Nothing Doing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:21 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
April 20, 2008
Avoiding Consistency Traps
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
At Patent Prospector, we're not shy about speaking out when we see academics, business people, or government officials doing silly things. Because of that, it's really a pleasure to be able to give kudos to the same people when praise is deserved. I believe that the new pilot program designed to promote Examiner interviews before first Office Actions is an excellent idea, which PTO Director Dudas and his team deserve praise for trying out.
Continue reading "Avoiding Consistency Traps"
Posted by Michael Martin at 1:03 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
April 17, 2008
Lazy Man Insults His Customers
The USPTO is storing up trouble.
PTO honcho Jon Dudas said Wednesday that patent
applications are "skyrocketing," but quality is suffering "as corporations and
individuals increasingly seek to turn intellectual property into a legal asset
rather than a means to technology innovation."
Continue reading "Lazy Man Insults His Customers"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:41 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (5)
April 15, 2008
Ravenous Hordes
The
USPTO is hosting a webcast on Wednesday, April 30, 2008, at 3:00 p.m. ET "to
discuss recent disruptions in the availability of Public PAIR" owing to "service
disruptions caused by bulk downloading of data by the public, commonly referred
to as 'data mining.'"
Details.
Continue reading "Ravenous Hordes"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:41 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
April 14, 2008
i-©®eaTM
The
above title reads like junk email in a foreign language that your computer can't
decipher. How appropriate, because that's the name of the
USPTO's new
curriculum to teach rug rats about intellectual property. i-©®eaTM educates
educators to educate "tweens" (ages 8-11) "to be creative and invent." Like they
don't get into enough trouble as is. To launch the program, the agency has radio
and TV commercials with the message, "Anything's possible. Keep thinking." Hey
PTO, how about something crazily creative, like "examination on the merits"?!
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:44 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
April 10, 2008
Is There An Echo In Here?
David
Boundy, IP VP at Cantor Fitzgerald, burned
the midnight oil to
rail against USPTO rule changes, using the proposed Markush rule
revision as a springboard. "The Markush Rule violates the Patent Act." Boundy
thereupon listed further PTO legal transgressions for all its recent rule
changes, insisting the PTO must start again from scratch. "Further action by the
PTO is illegal until it has made some good faith attempt to comply with the
law."
Continue reading "Is There An Echo In Here?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:21 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
April 9, 2008
Budens On The Real Deal
Back in February, USPTO Director Jon Dudas testified before Congress as to the "progress" of the agency. The PTO press release offered up a mirage banquet of statistical successes. The
April newsletter of
POPA, the patent office union, dishes out the testimony of POPA president Robert Budens, who slices through Dudas's claimed "success." Ah, finally, some unbiased declarations.
Continue reading "Budens On The Real Deal"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 8:28 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (6)
April 7, 2008
Another Day, Another Pilot
A recently announced USPTO pilot program will allow students, from several hand-picked law schools, to gain real-world experience by practicing before the agency. It is difficult to imagine this endeavor continuing beyond the initial two-year pilot. The value of such a pilot therefore appears minimal, acting more as a diversion from bad publicity than as an earnest effort.
Continue reading "Another Day, Another Pilot"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 7:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
Figure of Speech
USPTO
Director Jon Dudas pulled a number: $4200, as the cost of examining a patent,
contrasting it to the "basic filing fees" of under $1,000. So how, with such a
seemingly losing formula, does the PTO make over $2 billion a year? Issuance and
maintenance fees. The issue fee for a granted patent is $1,440. Maintenance: every patent, at 3.5 years, chips in
$930, $2,360 at 7.5 years, and $3,910 at 11.5 years. Not to mention fees for
continued examination (RCE, $810) and appeal ($1,020). Citing just the basic
filing fee disingenuously sets up a false comparison. Consider it a statement of character.
Continue reading "Figure of Speech"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:09 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (6)
April 4, 2008
If I Were the Dude...
Complaints abound when discussing the patent system and current PTO mismanagement, with top gun Jon "the Dude" Dudas serving as the rear-end to
many swift kicks. But being Director of the USPTO during such a volatile period cannot be easy. So let's follow Peterlin's lead, and help a brother out. No MBA required.
Continue reading "If I Were the Dude..."
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 2:02 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (8)
April 1, 2008
Thwarted
Judge
James C. Cacheris in the Eastern District of Virginia, on killing the
examination
limits railroaded into existence by the USPTO:
Because the USPTO's rulemaking authority under 35 U.S.C. § 2(b)(2) does not extend to substantive rules, and because the Final Rules are substantive in nature, the Court finds that the Final Rules are void as "otherwise not in accordance with law" and "in excess of statutory jurisdiction [and] authority." 5 U.S.C. § 706(2).
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:09 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
March 30, 2008
Commissioner Cack
In
an interview with
C/Net
News, USPTO Commissioner Jon Dudas:
What's, in lots of ways, more disturbing is in over half the cases where we say this isn't patentable, people just file again and get back in line. We want to make certain that people can't apply with a very broad patent application, which they know will get rejected. And then they get back in line, and meanwhile, they're looking out and seeing what's happening in the market. Sometimes they see that if they focused that broad claim, it could cover an existing technology... Then, (going by) the date of first filing, they can then say, 'I own that technology'... That's a very real concern. That gets more in line with concerns of troll behavior--someone who is literally watching the technology...so they can rise up out of the bridge and sue people.
Continue reading "Commissioner Cack"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:02 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
March 28, 2008
Greenhorn Parade
Every
competent manager knows, if you have a morale problem with the troops, step one
is simple: ask the troops. Instead, Margaret Peterlin, Deputy Doodah for the
USPTO, is
tickled pink
to ask the kids in a local bidness skool what they think.
Continue reading "Greenhorn Parade"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:28 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (6)
March 23, 2008
Amateur Hour
WikiPatents
and the USPTO-condoned Peer to Patent
projects are attempts at solutions looking for a problem. The implicit
conjecture is that patent examiners are limited in their search capabilities,
and a helping hand is just what they need. Nothing could be further from the
truth. By fostering the impression that examiners need such help, a fake
Band-Aid is applied in the wrong place. The wound is PTO management.
Continue reading "Amateur Hour"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:50 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
March 22, 2008
Praise the Dudas
Joff
Wild of IAM Magazine praises Jon Dudas for bringing home the bacon: "What
the
Patent Prospector and other Dudas critics fail to acknowledge is that fee
diversion has ended on his watch." Wrong attribution.
Continue reading "Praise the Dudas"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:38 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
March 20, 2008
Don't Feel So Restricted
From MPEP 802.02: Restriction practice is designed to require applicants to "elect a single claimed invention (e.g., a combination or subcombination invention, a product or process invention, a species within a genus) for examination when two or more independent inventions and/or two or more distinct inventions are claimed in an application."
Continue reading "Don't Feel So Restricted"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 6:15 AM | Prosecution | Comments (10)
March 19, 2008
Fully Funded Again
The
Senate last week, by unanimous approval, slipped into its 2009 budget an
amendment to condemn diverting funds from the USPTO. The Senate version of the
budget is sliced and diced in April, but PTO funds won't be on the plate. That
means the USPTO 2009 budget will exceed two billion dollars.
Continue reading "Fully Funded Again"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:52 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
February 27, 2008
Fish Tank
Myth
tells us that fish grow to the size of their tank. Reason suggests, related to a USPTO examiner, this myth may prove out.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 12:44 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
February 22, 2008
SPEcial Powers
With USPTO allowance rates at an all time low, there has been frequent analysis and speculation regarding cause and implication.
There is a player in the shadows: the supervisory examiner.
Continue reading "SPEcial Powers"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 3:19 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
February 8, 2008
Thwarting
In
the Eastern District of Virginia today, savvy Judge James Cacheris heard oral
arguments on whether the USPTO may implement its proposed examination rules
changes. The crucial issue is whether the changes are substantive, which they
are. Textbook interpretation is that the patent office is proscribed by law from
promulgating substantive changes, and from applying them retroactively, as in
this instance. The sanctimonious PTO argued that the changes were not
substantive, but if even they were, the agency had authority. Judge Cacheris
swore to render decision ASAP, but "there is a lot of paper to consider."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:27 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
February 7, 2008
Cover-Up
The
organized crime syndicate known as the USPTO tried to thwart
input in its fight to implement its illegal rule changes to examination
practice. The attack is answered.
Despite representing to this Court several times that the administrative record was complete, the PTO itself demonstrated otherwise when it recently and belatedly supplemented the administrative record, not once but twice. These submissions establish a pattern of "deliberately or negligently" omitting adverse documents from the record.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:02 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
February 5, 2008
Patent Office on Patent Reform
USPTO management posted on its internal agency website a position statement concerning changes in
pending patent law. The patent office strongly opposes damages apportionment,
while supporting the new post-grant opposition regime.
Continue reading "Patent Office on Patent Reform"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:14 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 28, 2008
Fighting Criminal Action
Last
week, Triantafyllos Tafas filed an
opposition brief to the USPTO's summary judgment motion in the matter of
stopping implementation of the agency's proposed rules limiting patent filings
and examination. Tafas backed with evidence alleged lies and cover-up by PTO
management in its totalitarian approach to rulemaking.
Continue reading "Fighting Criminal Action"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:13 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
January 14, 2008
The Perils of Prosecution
With
proclivity to despotic rule-making, USPTO management has issued edict to trash examination to the lowest common denominator.
Playing the numbers to demonstrate its toughness, top management determination was to sink
the allowance rate. Many moons ago, anticipating outcry at examination
injustice, the agency geared up for a ramp in appeals. Outrageous incompetence
is in full flower at the PTO. The governmental agency representing the
sanctity of invention has been so corrupted as to soil itself in disgrace; in doing so, pointing out the woeful
neglect of its overseers.
Continue reading "The Perils of Prosecution"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:50 PM | Prosecution | Comments (25)
Suspicious Procedures
An
amici curiae brief filed late last month by Polestar Capital Associates and
The Norseman Group in the
Tafas v. Dudas USPTO rules imbroglio tears the agency a new one:
The PTO failed its procedural rulemaking obligations. The PTO asserted that certain documents did not exist; yet now they have suddenly appeared in the administrative record. The PTO’s procedures are “suspicious” at best, and suggest that the “administrative record” is not an accurate or representative record of open-minded and reasoned decision making, but rather an ex post collection of documents cherry picked for this litigation.
Continue reading "Suspicious Procedures"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:12 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
December 27, 2007
Hoot
A
patent embodies a simple concept of private property, that of invention. Those
opposed to the concept rage against it in vicarious ways, to weaken its power,
as the concept itself endures. Ironically, current USPTO management tries to
shuck its core responsibility of patent examination, by contriving elaborate
rules and justifications to render its sloth less odious. The patent office's
self-destruction has cheering supporters.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:20 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (5)
December 14, 2007
Compact Prosecution
Unable
to staff its way out of its pendency hole, USPTO management seeks to address the
problem by limiting continuations and RCEs. Seeking to gratify a grotesque bias,
Ayal Sharon & Yifan Liu set out to statistically validate that conclusion.
Instead, they proved what many prosecutors already knew: examiners' refusal to
grant deserved patents. The root of the problem is a culture now steeped in
political fear of being considered slack by granting junk patents, inspired by a
short-sighted and incompetent management responding to pressure from well-funded
propagandists.
Continue reading "Compact Prosecution"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:08 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (12)
December 12, 2007
What's the big IDeaS?
The
Office of Management and Budget has approved the
proposed Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) rule changes (full proposed rule).
As poet Walt Whitman penned: "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I
contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes." But the USPTO isn't
supposed to be poetic, or self-contradictory; it's supposed to grant valid
patents. Worrying about decreasing pendency sets up an inherent
self-contradiction, especially since the direct path to do so is closed: while
management clings to denial as to cause, the agency admittedly suffers
horrendous examiner turnover. So, the only way left to decrease pendency is to
decrease examination time. Decreasing examination time necessarily increases the
risk of granting patents badly: either erroneously granting junk patents, which
the office used to regularly do, to not granting what should be valid patents,
as the PTO has recently made its regular practice. Burden shifting to applicants
is no substitute for impartial examination, and that's exactly the spirit of the
proposed IDS rules.
Continue reading "What's the big IDeaS?"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 3:06 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
December 10, 2007
Can't Touch This
Mere
days after Margaret
J.A. Peterlin was appointed Deputy Director of the patent office, before she
even had a chance to prove herself an
incompetent nincompoop, she's attacked in court by a self-righteous goon
squad of do-gooders who don't want to give her the chance to prove herself an
incompetent nincompoop. But the government isn't to be held
accountable, and so a district court judge shucked the matter because the law is "vague."
Continue reading "Can't Touch This"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:25 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
November 20, 2007
International Feel
The USPTO has been outsourcing the examination of PCT applications for a little over a year now, yet most applicants remain in the dark. What's the upshot?
Continue reading "International Feel"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 3:15 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (22)
The Big Charade
The
USPTO released last week its fiscal year 2007 "Performance and Accountability
Report", praising itself for "achieving another record-breaking year in
performance." The numbers: a record number of patents "examined" = 362,227;
quality compliance = 96.5% (what the hell is that?: dotting the 'i's and
crossing the 't's, a triumph of nitpick over substance); BPAI upholding
examiners 69% of the time (an intra-agency highly symbolic number), up from 51%
in 2005, indicating how much better the PTO has stacked the deck against
applicants; and grants
down to 51% from 72% in 2000, as if, nationwide, patent attorneys' heads turned
to mush as they suddenly spewed garbage patent applications left and right.
Yeah, right. All puppet performance, no accountability.
Continue reading "The Big Charade"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:59 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (5)
November 19, 2007
The Examiners' Burden
In
March 2005, USPTO management
unilaterally
terminated the collective bargaining agreement it had reached with
POPA, the examiners' union. Thus
began a new round of negotiations, which, in a letter Monday to examiners, is
considered at a mid-point impasse.
As POPA put
it: "The agency has taken a number of positions that are very harsh towards
examiners."
Continue reading "The Examiners' Burden"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:26 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
November 16, 2007
Part Of A Winning Team
An
examiner at the USPTO commented about
Margaret J.A. Peterlin, Deputy Director,
"another Hill staffer that has been sent over here to manage the PTO. There has
been some griping by examiners and SPEs about her qualifications and her
abilities." Peterlin is a former lapdog for Illinois Republican Rep. Dennis
Hastert, an erstwhile wrestling coach.
Continue reading "Part Of A Winning Team"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:27 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
November 15, 2007
Victory at Sea
The
USPTO announces success in increasing pendency: up to 32 months. Director Jon
Dudas, in a phone interview, crowed: "In the near term, we'll see pendency grow
for a few years." The Congressional Government Accountability Office credited
agency management with unrealistic production goals fostering massive
examiner turnover. Meanwhile, the patent grant percentage is down to 51% from 72% in 2000, as applicants clog the office with their crappy ideas.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:55 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 8, 2007
Not Appealing
Ruthlessly incompetent USPTO management continues to flummox the patent
community with its illegal and outrageous rule-making. The latest episode is
revising appeal rules.
Public comments have been posted, none complimentary; worthwhile reading. But,
however compelling, you can't clue the
clueless. In other words, don't hold your breath that the patent agency won't
proceed apace in yet another rules-from-fools folly.
Continue reading "Not Appealing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:59 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
November 7, 2007
I Swear Tele-Works
Deputy Director of the USPTO, Margaret J.A. Peterlin,
testified before a House of Representatives committee in a hearing entitled
"Telework: Breaking New Ground."
From the patent office announcement:
The USPTO has long been recognized as a pioneer in the area of telework for its innovative and flexible programs.
Continue reading "I Swear Tele-Works"
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 1:52 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (9)
November 2, 2007
Attrition
Attrition
is atrocious at the USPTO. Why? Having paid my dues to play the blues as an
examiner, a few notes sing out.
Posted by Mr. Platinum at 7:32 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (14)
October 31, 2007
The Empire Strikes Out
Judge
James Cacheris of the Eastern District of Virginia issued a last-minute preliminary
injunction against the USPTO imposing its new rules limiting continuations and
claims examined, finding merit that at least some of the rule changes may be illegal, exceeding
statutory authority.
Continue reading "The Empire Strikes Out"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
October 30, 2007
The Empire Strikes Back
Last
episode, Luke Tafas and Obi Wan GlaxoSmithKline assaulted the examination death
star, backed by legions of patent jedi. Now, Darth Dudas whips out
a sputtering
light saber in reply.
On November 1, 2007, the USPTO expects to implement rules aimed to improve the quality and efficiency of patent application examination, lead to higher quality patents, and reduce a growing backlog of applications that is crippling the Office. The rules are the product of extensive planning and development.
Continue reading "The Empire Strikes Back"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:07 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
Concerns
Last
Thursday, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
faxed
a
letter to PTO honcho Jon Dudas, raising concerns about the imminent rules
for limiting continuations and examination of claims: "The proposed rules... may
have the unintended consequences of stifling... innovation, and I urge you to
consider delaying their implementation."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:19 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
October 29, 2007
Halloween
Patent
prosecutors will be tricked or treated before
All-hallow-even, as East
Virginia Judge James Chacheris has scheduled a hearing Wednesday to hear
GlaxoSmithKline's motion for an injunction against the USPTO's odious
examination rules changes, the day before the rules are set to go into effect,
establishing a pagan ritual of patent sacrifice, beginning All Hallows Day. The patent community cheers GSK in hopes of securing a
temporary restraining order from Judge Chaceris, whose choice of hearing date
intimates a just complaint.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:21 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
October 27, 2007
Crusader
Hal
Wegner
sallies forth with a missive to John Whealan, former USPTO
Solictor, now on the Senate majority staff.
Twenty months ago in your role as the Solicitor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office you addressed the Bar Association of the District of Columbia; you spoke against a statutory elimination of excessive continuations applications because of an Agency "bubble" problem, while asserting that the Congress would clearly support repeal of multiple continuing applications – that your former Agency is now eliminating through rulemaking you helped craft in your former role.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:48 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
October 25, 2007
Battle Stations
Reports flow in of siege at the USPTO
fortress over examination limits. Casualties have already occurred: the twin
angels of human relationships, Equity & Comity, appear seriously wounded. The
large caliber catapult known as IBM has rolled into position, lobbing projectiles at the fortress.
Now we hear that a defector is whispering dissent, that the cause may not be just,
aghast at the thought of innocent lives, infant inventions strangled
as they lie in their cradles.
Continue reading "Battle Stations"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:28 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
October 22, 2007
Insignificant Billions
Richard
B. Belzer, on behalf of masked men, ran numbers from masked men that led him
to conclude that the USPTO's proposed prior art Information Disclosure Statement
(IDS) rules related to the pending 5-25 examination rules are economically
significant, contrary to patent agency assertion. As in, $7.3 billion a year
significant. As former Senator Scoop Jackson of Washington state once mused: "a
billion here, a billion there; before you know it, you're talking real money."
Continue reading "Insignificant Billions"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:01 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
October 19, 2007
Stopping Limiting Continuations Continued
Inventor
Dr. Tafas was first
to the courthouse to sue Jon Dudas for the new examination limits,
specifically, limiting continuations.
GlaxoSmithKline followed suit.
Steven J. Moore
at Kelley Drye & Warren, Tafas
counsel, informs that "the Glaxo case has been consolidated into the Tafas
case." Tafas has filed an
amended complaint. And Hal Wegner analyzes the justifications, and pitfalls,
of late-stage continuation filings.
Continue reading "Stopping Limiting Continuations Continued"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:51 PM | Prosecution | Comments (1)
October 18, 2007
Spoiled Child
Susan
Dudley, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)
for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), overseer of regulatory
shenanigans by government agencies, is a bad mother to the errant child known as
the patent office; letting it eat far too much cake of its own baking for
everybody's own good. Ms. Dudley was the one who
let the examination limits
rules slide on by without so much as a "boo." Now comes a crowd of
community-minded citizens to complain once more, that Dudas the Menace is
fibbing again; this time over new rules for requiring Information Disclosure
Statements (IDS) for patent submissions: "In the proposed IDS Rule, USPTO has
again misrepresented to OMB the breadth and depth of the effects likely to
result. The proposed IDS Rule is clearly “economically significant.” If
finalized, it will impose billions of dollars of burden on patent
applicants and owners."
Continue reading "Spoiled Child"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:53 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (4)
Revenge of the Jedi
It
is virtually impossible to find anyone outside the Patent Office who thinks the
new rules on claims and continuations schedule to take effect on November 1,
2007, make any sense at all. The new rules are simply absurd. Not only do they
limit the number of claims unless you want to file an Examination Support
Document, but they also limit the number of continuations you can file and they
are retroactive. On top of that there has been some evidence to suggest that the
Patent Office
started enforcing the new rules in mid October 2007, although they appear to
have seen the error of their ways and have stopped such enforcement. Who could
possibly think that any of this is fair?
Continue reading "Revenge of the Jedi"
Posted by Gene Quinn at 10:54 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (3)
October 17, 2007
Lax
Feeling
the pressure of pendency no longer, the bowels of the USPTO are tightening for
the 5/25 examination limits, with the patent agency prematurely playing loose
with its own rules. While the limits are stated to be in effect November 1, de
facto implementation is already proceeding, as it appears unexamined patent
applications with more claims than allowed under the new rules are being pulled
from their dockets, effectively pre-retarded.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:10 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
October 11, 2007
Necessary Medicine
GlaxoSmithKline is attempting to vaccinate inventors
from the examination limits pandemic about to hit, which inexorably will lead to
digestive distress and headaches for prosecutors, as well as depression for
inventors who cannot adequately protect their inventions. GSK's medication was
injected in the Eastern District of Virginia on Tuesday against Jon Dudas as USPTO
honcho.
Continue reading "Necessary Medicine"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:04 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
October 9, 2007
Backhand
Slapping
a happy face on a dressing down, the patent agency carries the torch of the
recent
GAO report dunning them for not slapping a happy face on examiners so
they'll stay working at the USPTO, and for not hiring enough examiners to meet
workload. An internal office website posting has USPTO Director Jon Dudas
praising the GAO report.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:08 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
Examination Limits Briefing
Examiners
have just been briefed on the examination limits. The USPTO PowerPoint
presentation, available
here, serves as an excellent walk-through of the impending rules, with,
naturally, occasional agency spin.
Continue reading "Examination Limits Briefing"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:53 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
October 5, 2007
Counterproductive
As
pendency has ballooned, USPTO management has been pushing a crack-the-whip
production system for examiners which has met
stiff resistance
from POPA, the examiner corps professional
organization. Now the oversight GAO fingers the PTO for ignoring the burgeoning
backlog in its hiring goals, and not adequately addressing examiner attrition:
culprit #1 - production goals.
Continue reading "Counterproductive"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:21 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (6)
October 1, 2007
Past Time
Incompetence
takes two basic forms. One is lacking skill to implement: a lack of
craftsmanship. Implementation incompetence is, at best, low aptitude. The other is
inability to conceptualize: a lack of comprehension. You can't clue the
clueless. Incompetence thrives at the top tier of the USPTO, and it is damaging
our country.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:49 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (7)
September 27, 2007
Fiction Writers
Reeking
of nasty anti-patent bias, evidence of high-level incompetence at the USPTO
trickles in. Today, the appeals court caught the patent appeals board (BPAI)
equating "flexible" with "rigid."
Continue reading "Fiction Writers"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:03 PM | Prosecution | Comments (4)
September 14, 2007
Examination Failure
Accelerated examinations, where an applicant provides
rigorous self-examination of a patent application, is largely replicated in the
Examination Support Document (ESD) that allows exceeding the "5/25"
examination claims limits being imposed by the USPTO. The experiment of
accelerated examinations is proving an abysmal failure for those involved. Hal Wegner mouths off about USPTO management "shortcomings" and abrogation of
law by fiat.
Continue reading "Examination Failure"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:47 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
September 7, 2007
Searching BPAI Decisions
USTPO
Board of Patent
Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) final decisions are now
text searchable.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:38 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
September 6, 2007
Explain Thyself
Jon
Dudas, USPTO head honcho, will serve a heaping of justification for, and
explanation of, the new examination rules, and doubtlessly be griddled for it,
in a panel
web conference sponsored by Foley & Lardner: Wednesday, September 12, 9:30 am ET.
Spatulas are limited, so register ASAP.
Continue reading "Explain Thyself"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:19 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
September 4, 2007
Markush This
Hal Wegner
tears into the
USPTO's proposed wanking of Markush claims. "Above all, the proposed
rulemaking unduly complicates and frustrates biotechnology and pharmaceutical
applicants from obtaining fair coverage for their pioneer innovations."
Continue reading "Markush This"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:41 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 23, 2007
As Nutty As Squirrel Poo
Having
attended the
USPTO webinar on the new rules limiting examination, said limits applying
both to the number of continuations/divisionals/RCEs for a patent family, and
claims examined within each patent family, the interplay intricacy aimed at
confounding prosecutors and thereby hobbling invention by said rules leads
inexorably to a singular conclusion: my head hurts.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
Tilt
Instantly
taking umbrage at the USPTO's new Byzantine rules for limiting examination,
uppity Greece-born inventor
Dr. Triantafyllos Tafas filed suit in the home court of the PTO, the Eastern
District of Virginia, against the agency and its head honcho, Jon Dudas.
According to Tafas, the new rules violate the Constitution, the Patent Act of
1952, and, in the run-up to promulgation, the rule-making procedures of the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:37 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 16, 2007
e-Office Action
The
patent office is running a pilot program of sending electronic office actions,
using Private PAIR, with notification by email, replacing the paper version. The
USPTO is letting a limited number of new participants into the program beginning
August 31. This initiative looks a winner in terms of convenience for all
involved, and is likely to be an option for all prosecutors in the not too
distant future, when the pilot successfully concludes.
Continue reading "e-Office Action"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:21 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
August 9, 2007
Complex Data
The
USPTO announces a "Complex Work Units (CWUs) Pilot Program" scheduled to begin
towards the end of the year. The agency seeks volunteer participants to provide
input and feedback. The goal
of the project is to better figure out how to regularize complex figure and
table data, such as used to illustrate chemical structures, mathematical
formulae, and protein crystals.
Continue reading "Complex Data"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:13 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
July 30, 2007
Appeal Boarding
The
USPTO today published an extensive revision of the rules governing ex parte
patent appeals, where an applicant's patent
has been invalidated by the new, "leave no patent alive" obviousness regime
imposed by the
Supreme
Court's KSR decision. Given that the majority of potential pre-KSR
high-value patents may be no longer be enforceable, the patent office is
expecting a crush from those trying to hold on to what they no longer have got.
Continue reading "Appeal Boarding"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:16 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
July 25, 2007
USPTO Rule Changes
The
patent office is proceeding towards the details of implementing its rule changes
for limiting continuations and number of claims examined. An internal
(intra-agency) email follows.
Continue reading "USPTO Rule Changes"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:18 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 10, 2007
Mission Accomplished
The
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) concluded review of proposed USTPO rules related to
examination procedures, blithely approving them as "consistent with change." OMB
views the rule changes as economically insignificant. No one else does.
Continue reading "Mission Accomplished"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:36 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 3, 2007
Another Tack
After
the U.S. patent office turned a deaf ear to relentless criticism of its proposed
rule changes, OMB became the last resort to stop the PTO from limiting
continuations and lessening examination quality.
OIRA,
the regulatory branch, has been the focus to date. As a last resort of the last
resort, the budget branch is now assailed to have some sense.
Continue reading "Another Tack"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:16 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 26, 2007
USPTO Rules
Hal
Wegner reports: The notorious proposed PTO rules that have generated truly
unprecedented negative responses from the patent community remain in limbo but
with a substantial chance that the new rules will be implemented. Despite
serious discussions with personal interviews with OMB by at least five different
groups, there has been no indication given that the OMB will block the PTO's
rulemaking efforts.
Continue reading "USPTO Rules"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:22 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
June 23, 2007
Accountability
Two groups representing diverse interests met with officials from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House on June 14 & 15 to thwart the patent office's proposed rule changes to limit continuations and change examination procedures. USPTO thoughtlessness and misconduct at the highest level of management appear egregious.
Continue reading "Accountability"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 9:01 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
June 21, 2007
Shunned
Michael
Bender's involvement in an invention promotion scheme got him excluded from
USPTO prosecution. He fought his exclusion all the way to the appeals court (CAFC
06-1243). If only
Bender had been so diligent on behalf of the people he represented.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:24 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
June 16, 2007
A Blow Against the Empire
The
USPTO pseudo-secret rules package to
limit continuations goes forward, but not without resistance. These rules
were self-interestedly concocted by short-sighted patent agency management. An
attempt to stop the rules from going into effect is being made by going over the
heads of patent agency management.
Continue reading "A Blow Against the Empire"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:38 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
Dissonance
Seven
years as a pro se prosecutor, and what stands out most, now more so than years
before: examiners tend to be sloppy, particularly mapping prior art to claim
locutions (let's not call them
limitations).
Why? The crush of time. Patent agency management seems to liken patent
examination to sorting the mail - quality just has to do with shoving it out the
door. Examiners know that patent quality is a function of having time to do a
good job. What we have here is a failure to communicate.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:53 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 10, 2007
Under Secretary
Hal Wegner writes of the qualifications of recent USPTO management, elevation of title belying comparative depth of experience.
Continue reading "Under Secretary"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:45 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 7, 2007
Turkey Vulture
The
USPTO proudly
announces it Peer Review Pilot program, beginning June 15, letting
a limited number of applicants volunteer their computer technology patent applications for
target practice by the prior art packing public.
Continue reading "Turkey Vulture"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:10 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 6, 2007
Do Some Work For Us
Patent
office director Jon Dudas testified before the Senate this morning, complaining about
patent examiners having to examine patents - it was just too much work. "There
ought to be a shared responsibility for patent quality among the patent office,
the applicants and the public."
Continue reading "Do Some Work For Us"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:51 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
June 4, 2007
Another Bite with a Fresh Rabbit
Giving large corporations
every opportunity to
treat the patent system as their own private reserve, the USPTO will give
Microsoft another chance to invalidate the Eolas web browser plug-in patent,
which Microsoft was found to have expensively infringed with its ActiveX technology. This
episode, provoking an interference, Microsoft pulls a rabbit out its hat that
claims that it, Big Genius, invented the technology, not the puny patentee.
Continue reading "Another Bite with a Fresh Rabbit"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:19 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Winning the War
While
we are winning the war in Iraq by gentle persuasion that touches the hearts and
mind of the whole world, other governmental efforts are also reaping the fruits of
benevolence. Today, USPTO director Jon Dudas launches his five-year agency-wide
Strategic Plan, with the goal of becoming "employer of choice." Row, row, row
your boat to the PTO.
Continue reading "Winning the War"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:44 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
March 2, 2007
Continuation Limits Undead
A
couple of days ago, Hal Wegner reported USPTO
Under Secretary Jon Dudas putting nails in the coffin of earlier proposed
continuation restrictions. Now it appears continuation restrictions are undead.
Continue reading "Continuation Limits Undead"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:48 AM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
February 28, 2007
Continuation Limits Dead
Classic
gossip chain: Hal Wegner reports from "a highly reliable source" that USPTO
Under Secretary Jon Dudas, in a swing through Silicon Valley last week, assured
computer industry leaders that the
proposed limits on continuations are, "in the words of one observer" - "dead
as a doornail."
Continue reading "Continuation Limits Dead"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:50 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Transformation
Bernard Bilski helped the USPTO set up an appeals court review of statutory subject matter - 35 U.S.C. §101. Bilski claimed a method of economizing in managing risk; more simply, simply a method of doing business. Self-admittedly, the claims aren't tied to any physical structure, don't recite a transformation of matter, nor even of computer data. The patent appeals board rejected Bilski's claims as unpatentable. A case with considerable intrigue, it raises the question of whether the patent office is attacking its pendancy problem by attempting to scotch business method patents.
Continue reading "Transformation"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 5:13 PM | § 101 | Comments (0)
February 7, 2007
USPTO In The Dough
President
Bush recommended that the USPTO keep its piggy bank for the fourth straight
year. If approved by Congress, the USPTO budget for 2008 would be around $1.9
billion, up 8% from 2007.
Continue reading "USPTO In The Dough"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:16 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
December 21, 2006
E-Office Action
Lessening
the post office load, the USPTO has initiated a pilot program of office action
(OA) email notification, letting an applicant know that the action may be viewed
via Private PAIR.
Continue reading "E-Office Action"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:10 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
November 30, 2006
Pay Up
USPTO
management secured a 7% across-the-board pay raise for examiners effective the
last pay period of the year.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:00 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 19, 2006
The Lash
USPTO
management insists on cracking the whip, destroying morale among examiners in
the name of productivity.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:01 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 10, 2006
Raw Deal
USPTO
management continues to display astounding disregard for both patent quality and
retaining patent examiners. Agency management's current proposal to slam
examiners is flat-goal production quotas.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:06 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 7, 2006
Atta Boy
One
of the 6,000 patent examiners is
selling on eBay the commemorative keyring that was provided as an
end-of-fiscal-year gift to PTO employees. The keyring was only half of the
gift; the other half was a chicken kabob pita sandwich. No word on the whether
there was pity for the pita.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:59 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
Political Creatures
That
USPTO top management are Republican troglodytes should come as no surprise;
their "the floggings will continue until morale improves" management style gives
them away. A Democratic Congress could lame some of the agencies "reforms," such
as limiting continuations.
Continue reading "Political Creatures"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:51 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
November 1, 2006
EFS Pendency
Patent
pendency isn't just for examination any longer. The spirit of Soviet Union
bureaucracy, already embraced by USPTO management, has infected their online web
service, EFS. At least the agency is sending out emails acknowledging a problem.
Continue reading "EFS Pendency"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:22 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
October 22, 2006
Patent Pendency Pending
The
deck chair shuffling on the ship of patent pendency revealed a bit more
configuration clarity this past week. IDS & ten-claim limits in, continuation
limitations out. No sitting place in evidence for concern about patent quality.
Continue reading "Patent Pendency Pending"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:27 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
October 1, 2006
Examiner Attrition
The Denver Business Journal, in an article largely about Denver possibly hosting a satellite office of the PTO, reported last week: "About 3,000 people work as patent examiners...They're hiring a thousand examiners a year, and they still can't keep up with demand... The heavy workload has resulted in an attrition rate as high as 30 percent for first-year hires."
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:59 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
September 29, 2006
To Be Continued?
Rumors
are swirling that the patent office may be rethinking its continuation
curtailment campaign. Also rife is speculation of shuffling the deck chairs on
the Patent Titanic. Some scuttlebutt at the agency water cooler....
Continue reading "To Be Continued?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:05 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
September 5, 2006
Windmill Tilt
Cindy
Michel got a patent for ergonomically engineered underwear:
5,157,793. But the patent maintenance fees didn't fit her, so she bitched
before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, silly girl. Regardless of whether the
emperor has clothes, ergonomic or not, Cindy lost her patent for not paying for
its maintenance.
Continue reading "Windmill Tilt"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 11:23 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 31, 2006
Cheapskate PTO
There
has been acrimonious disagreement at the Patent Office over the Millennium
Agreement, a 2001 contested contract that was supposed to maintain a 10%-15% pay
scale differential between examiners and your average government bureaucrat; the
point being, to retain highly educated and skilled examiners, thus minimizing
turnover and maximizing patent quality. It hasn't worked out that way, because
agency management reneged.
Continue reading "Cheapskate PTO"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 6:26 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (2)
August 25, 2006
USPTO Plan
Average
patent pendency is now at 27 months, with high-tech wait
times nearly double that. Some inventors have waited 12 years before getting
their patent grant. There is a serious shortage of examiners, and turnover is
high: only 45% of current employees have been there for over five years. But
the
patent office has a plan for the next five years.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:41 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
August 3, 2006
Dilbert at the PTO
As
a confidential source inside the patent office put it, "When I worked in the
private sector, I might not have always agreed with management, but at least I
saw evidence of some consistent internal logic for their reasoning and decision.
But here at the PTO, it's like working in a live-action
Dilbert cartoon, although with a more
relaxed dress code."
Continue reading "Dilbert at the PTO"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:45 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 27, 2006
Pay Grade
Facing
high attrition for admittedly scare human resources, a sensible employer
would do its best to be competitive, and offer a hospitable
work environment. Not the patent office.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:54 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 26, 2006
Anti-Nano Pendency
There
is a surging wave of research in nanotechnology - a catch-all for tiny
structures with broad applicability in other technologies. In other words,
nanotech is a catalytic technology, possibly seminal in this country maintaining
its competitive edge internationally. In that regard, one big problem is the
USPTO.
Continue reading "Anti-Nano Pendency"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:10 AM | Patents In Business | Comments (0)
July 20, 2006
USPTO Management Lambasted
The
U.S. House budget committee responsible for appropriations to the patent agency
succinctly
describes, from a bird's-eye view, how
fubar the PTO is.
Continue reading "USPTO Management Lambasted"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 3:20 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 15, 2006
Young Punk Wanderlust
Examiners
harp that employee turnover at the patent office results from the regime and
conditions imposed upon them; the common story when any
organization suffers high attrition. But, according to office management, newly
hired Millennial-generation examiners leave, not for better pay or less
stress, but owing to professional wanderlust, itself a hallmark of their
generation. Agency employees in their 20s were amused to read of their presumed
mores.
Continue reading "Young Punk Wanderlust"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:40 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
PTO Web Chat Snafu
Today's
intra-patent office news: "Because of technical difficulties with our software
program, today's web chat on telecommuting programs with Under Secretary Dudas
was suspended." Over 300 people had logged in for today's chat.
Continue reading "PTO Web Chat Snafu"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:24 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
July 11, 2006
Tax Patents
The
House Ways & Means Select Revenue Subcommittee is holding hearings Thursday into
patents claiming tax processes. The worry is whether such patents contribute to
tax avoidance (as in: duh), and whether it could make the IRS's job of blocking
tax shelters more difficult.
Continue reading "Tax Patents"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 10:19 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
July 8, 2006
The First Patent Office Building
The
July issue of the Smithsonian magazine has an interesting article titled
Back To
The Future on the history and recent renovation of the original patent
office building.
Posted by Patent Hawk at 4:55 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
June 12, 2006
PTO Inequitable Conduct?
NTP continues to pitch a fit over alleged shenanigans by the U.S. patent office in reexamining the NTP patents that netted $612.5 million from RIM.
Continue reading "PTO Inequitable Conduct?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 7:57 PM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
May 20, 2006
Cracking The Whip
In
a push to have pendency punk'd, the whip comes down at the patent office. As
Lynyrd Skynrd put it, "what's that smell?"
Continue reading "Cracking The Whip"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:10 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
May 16, 2006
Patent Office Corruption
NTP alleged that Research in Motion (RIM) sought to illicitly influence the patent office's reexamination of NTP patents during the NTP-RIM patent spat that finally settled with RIM paying NTP $612 million. Sure, RIM chief Jim Balsillie is that kind of guy. But, according to NTP, top officials at the patent agency, including USPTO head Jon Dudas, violated federal rules in colluding with Balsillie, and, naturally, trying to cover it up.
Continue reading "Patent Office Corruption"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:09 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (1)
February 22, 2006
Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry
Patent
Commissioner John Doll's viewpoint on the need for Congress to pass patent
reform legislation: no thanks, we've got it under control. To patent applicants,
Doll says: "do some work for us."
Continue reading "Patent Office Blows Patent Reform Raspberry"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 8:28 PM | The Patent System | Comments (2)
January 7, 2006
Backlash to USPTO Cracking the Whip
Patent prosecutors across the country are
echoing Patent Hawk in crying foul
at the patent office for unfairly shifting the burden of examination onto
prosecutors, limiting examinations, and hurting the prospects for deserved
patent protection.
Continue reading "Backlash to USPTO Cracking the Whip"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:04 AM | Prosecution | Comments (1)
January 4, 2006
Limiting Continuations
The USPTO is aiming to cut its backlog by limiting continuations.
The patent office is burden shifting, at
the potential sacrifice of fertile inventors losing some of their patent rights.
Continue reading "Limiting Continuations"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:09 PM | Prosecution | Comments (0)
December 17, 2005
Patent Office Plays Politics
Defying
its own regulations, the patent office is only giving NTP 30 days, instead of
the customary 60 days, to reply to the non-final rejection of its patents in the
re-examination initiated by infringer Research in Motion (RIM). In case you just
dropped in from another planet, NTP sucessfully sued RIM for patent infringement, and RIM has been fighting that reality tooth and nail.
Continue reading "Patent Office Plays Politics"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:21 AM | Prosecution | Comments (4)
December 8, 2005
2005 USPTO Annual Report
The
U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued its
annual report for 2005. Here's a look at some of the more interesting
findings for patents.
Continue reading "2005 USPTO Annual Report"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 1:02 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
May 15, 2005
The Constitutionality of Robbing The Patent Office
"The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
- U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8
Continue reading "The Constitutionality of Robbing The Patent Office"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 2:23 PM | The Patent System | Comments (0)
May 13, 2005
Did A Mid-90's PTO Hangover Incite Patent Reform A Decade Hence?
The evidence is anecdotal. Patent examination may have been particularly slack in the early to mid-1990s, which perhaps resulted in a rash of flimsy patent enforcement cases in the past several years that have incited catcalls for patent reform to remedy the granting of weak patents. But that stalking-horse is already back in the barn.
Continue reading "Did A Mid-90's PTO Hangover Incite Patent Reform A Decade Hence?"
Posted by Patent Hawk at 12:02 AM | The Patent Office | Comments (0)
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