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iniewski
One of the problems of the current patent system is that at least 90% (some ...
antiquus
The patent office has become the poster child for "technical debt", which is the ...
Patent office claims progress on backlog
Rick Merritt
9/8/2010 5:19 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is on track to chip away a small chunk of its historic backlog this year, but the agency still faces huge challenges, according to its new director.
The patent office had a backlog of about 750,000 unprocessed applications when David J. Kappos became director of the agency in August 2009. It aims to have less than 700,000 by the end of the year.
"We are in striking distance of doing it, and it would be the first significant decline in about a decade," said Kappos in a conference call with press reviewing his first 13 months in the post. "I think it's fair to say we've made some progress, but our challenges are substantial, and we have a lot more work to do," he said.
The 6.7 percent decline would come during a year that has seen a four percent rise in new applications. Total pendency, the time it takes to process an application, sits at 35.4 months, unchanged since Kappos joined.
Engineers say they are frustrated by the unpredictability of the agency which can take three to eight years to process an application. Kappos said the backlog and pendency problems are "the most pressing challenges" of the agency.
The patent office launched an online dashboard this week that will provide a monthly snapshot of the agency's performance. It shows the office has more than 6,000 examiners that still face a backlog of 728,000 applications.
Kappos ticked off a laundry list of initiatives he has taken in his first 13 months. They include revamping the way the office measures performance of its patent examiners and their first-line managers. The agency also is revising the patent examiner's manual adding a new facility to provide online comments on the process.
Among other new initiatives, the office kicked off a pilot program to accelerate processing of patents related to climate change. Earlier this year, Kappos proposed creating a three–track patent system, a plan that drew some controversy during a public comment phase and is now being revised.
Kappos has also launched a program to update the agency's computer systems, long criticized for requiring examiners to use multiple systems to handle prior art searches.
"The Holy Grail of searching is sometimes called a unified or federated search," said Kappos. "That’s a long range goal but a hard problem to solve, so we'll handle that in steps," he said.
The first big changes will merge into one system some but not all of the databases examiners need to access. It will come sometime in 2012, he said.
A former chief appeals judge has called for giving the patent office a billion dollars in stimulus funds to upgrade its computers and hire more examiners. Meanwhile the agency requested a modest increase to $2.322 billion in its annual budget for fiscal year 2011. President Obama is said to have requested "some substantial increases" in his proposed budget for 2012.
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rick.merritt
9/8/2010 5:38 PM EDT
Have you seen any improvements in your dealings with the patent office in the past year?
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phoenixdave
9/8/2010 7:02 PM EDT
Upgrading their computer systems to make the examiners more efficient is where the money should be spend. Better hardware and software would lessen the reviewing and research process and provide a much more efficient operation.
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DrQuine
9/8/2010 7:55 PM EDT
The wildly differing proposals for patent reform suggest that reasonable people representing large and small businesses in different industries have differing interests (and probably explain why the process is gridlocked). In addition to providing more funding, Congress certainly should allow the patent office to keep all the funds it generates rather than siphoning some off through fee diversion.
Do the examiners really have with obsolete computer systems? Certainly my laptop allows me excellent visibility into the patent office processes (public PAIR) and the full text issued / pending patent archives allow easy searches. Personally, I find the variations in processing time for patents in different subject matter areas to be most frustrating as an inventor - but completely understandable in terms of the challenge the patent office faces in finding qualified examiners.
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Robotics Developer
9/8/2010 7:59 PM EDT
I have been waiting for over a year for my patent application to be approved, reading this article it looks like at least a year of more is still needed before I can expect to hear anything! Wow! I can not imagine the work needed to check for existing patents against new claims, just the effort required to write up the application took me and a few lawyers 8 months. I look forward to the streamlining of the process that faster computers and more intelligent software would enable. What a great idea: faster computers, smarter software. Perhaps I should file a patent!
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pixies
9/9/2010 9:45 AM EDT
The three-track system will not work because the main cost associated with a patent is the lawyer fee, not the application fee. Plus, the most talented examiner will inevitably leave and become or work for a patent attorney, leaving the Is there a way to "privatize" USPTO, so applicants and tax payer can both save money?
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PatentGod
9/9/2010 12:00 PM EDT
Of the "in the hunt" remark about the expedited green tech patent application program, see
http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2010/09/reality-check-needed-at-uspto.html
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antiquus
9/10/2010 8:05 PM EDT
The patent office has become the poster child for "technical debt", which is the accumulated cost of not keeping up with your mounting process problems and outstanding bugs.
Perhaps they should let the engineers at the post office have crack at the situation, before simply throwing money at the problem.
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iniewski
9/10/2010 10:55 PM EDT
One of the problems of the current patent system is that at least 90% (some might claim 99%) of the patents are useless. Despite what many say I actually think the patent fees should be increased, only then frivolous patent filing would stop. Anyone cares to comment? (I have been awarded 18 patents in several jurisdiction and worked with patent lawyers extensively)...Kris
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