The Washington Business Journal is reporting that the USPTO is outsourcing its classification for $138 million.

Reston-based SI will provide the patent office with patent classification services to support the office in examining, granting and disseminating patents and trademarks.

You may remember that the USPTO is also outsourcing the examination of international applications.  I wonder what will be next.

Greg Aharonian, whose only credentials seems to be that he writes a newsletter criticizing the patent system, calls Wikipedia toilet paper.  From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog is this quote from Patents Commisioner John Doll:

“The problem with Wikipedia is that it’s constantly changing.” Doll says the agency used Wikipedia entries as background and not as the basis for deciding on an application. A PTO spokesperson attributed inquiries from Business Week for the shift in policy.

The U.S. Patent Office has been somewhat of a nomad over the years.  The historic Old Patent Office Building was is Washington D.C. proper.

In the 1850s, Clara Barton worked here as a clerk to the Patent Commissioner, the first woman federal employee to receive equal pay.

The halls of the old Patent Office Building -- now named the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture -- rocked with music on every floor. An elaborate buffet was set up amid flashing lights in the grand hall where Abraham Lincoln once held an inaugural ball, and Andrew Jackson -- in a portrait by Ralph Earl --looked down on a busy bar scene not far from a contemporary artwork by David Beck. The work, a mixed media construction said to be an interpretation of the building, was the only item commissioned for the opening by both its tenants.

Amazon's one click patent is now getting reexamined, which I blogged about earlier, and another patent application is getting reexamined as well.

At the request of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) will reexamine a controversial patent for online test-taking from Test.com. The reexamination order is the second granted in just two months after petitions from EFF's Patent Busting Project.

I like the EFF. As far as I can tell, I think they are doing a good job that is in line with their mission. However, their characterization of their reexamination "win" confuses me. The EFF "Breaking News" entitled "Internet Test-Taking Patent Draws Official Suspicsion" says

As the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is looking to hire a 1,000 examiners each year for the next 5 years, the Office is also looking to have regional patent offices around the country. It appears that this plan is to work in conjunction with the USPTO's work @ home initiative. The Denver post says,

Denver is in the running to be the first regional office of the U.S.