Archives

Michael D. Frakes and Melissa F. Wasserman Commentators have noted two key concerns with the patent system in recent years—the quality of patents that the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or Agency) issues and the crippling backlog of applications facing the PTO. We believe that these two concerns are not ...

Brenda M. Simon The quality of prior art located for a given application is limited by ability and resources. Automated searching has the potential to mitigate some of these constraints, though the risk of overreliance might offset some of its benefits. Increased use of automated searching may facilitate consideration of ...

Ted Sichelman Currently, the USPTO essentially treats every patent application as if each were “created equal.” However, from an economic standpoint, patent quality is more important for certain types of patents than others—namely, those patents that if wrongly issued (or wrongly denied at the application stage) would have a substantial ...

We greatly appreciate the USPTO’s outreach to the community in its efforts to enhance patent quality. We write in response to the USPTO’s requests for comments on enhancing patent quality. As academics who research and teach in the area of patents, we commend the USPTO on attempting to improve its ...

C. Wook Pak and Mark D. Nielsen The compact prosecution model has yet to be achieved because examiners, desiring to dispose of an application quickly, tend to give unreasonably broad interpretations to the claim terms in order to allow them to quickly find a reference that can serve as a ...

April 27, 2015 I appreciate the opportunity to submit comments for improving patent quality. The following comments address issues specifically regarding patent drawings. The United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) rules and regulations for patent drawings are at times confusing, and in some instances vague. However, they still have ...

To Improve Patent Quality, Let’s Use Fees to Weed Out Weak Patents Brian J. Love Too often, proposals for improving patent quality zero in on modifications to narrow aspects of patent examination—tweaks that, at best, will only improve future applications—without considering broader reforms that can improve all patents, including those ...

Taking Functional Claiming Seriously Mark A. Lemley I have argued elsewhere that software patentees have been writing patent claims in functional terms, attempting to lay claim to not just the particular invention they developed but any code designed to solve the same problem, configured in any way and placed on ...

In Person Interview Capability with All Examiners Thomas Franklin Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP The ability to meet with your decision maker when seeking to procure or protect your property (i.e., a patent grant) is a cornerstone of procedural due process guaranteed by the Constitution. As the examining corps is ...

Designations: Roadblocks to Compact Prosecution Kate S. Gaudry Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP The patent office, applicants, and the public have a shared interest in promoting compact prosecution. Quickly and efficiently arriving at a final disposition (allowed or abandoned) would reduce the PTO’s backlog and allow applicants and the public ...