Pattoo - uspto

USPTO Outsourcing Again!

Dave — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:27:04 -0400

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.

Wikipedia is Toilet Paper?

Dave — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 23:08:46 -0400

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.

Old Patent Office is New State of the Art

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 08:16:52 -0400

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 USPTO was until recently in "Crystal City", Virginia or Arlington, Virginia. Currently, they are in Alexandria, Virginia. However, the historic Old Patent Office Building has a new tenant.

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.

Is the Patent System Broken?

Sun, 21 May 2006 11:16:30 -0400

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

USPTO to have Regional Offices

Wed, 17 May 2006 11:45:00 -0400

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.

read more

USPTO Search the Internet: Duh!

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 17:48:40 -0400

As with many things in life critics and commentators external to an organization think they have all the answers while the people on the inside appear to be stupid and incompetent. Here are some comments in response to a public policy report about the USPTO using the internet.

Techdirt.com:

Patent Office Needs To Be Told To Look Online For Prior Art?

The Infamous Five

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 12:47:52 -0500

You’ve probably notice that I have not posted much about the Blackberry patent situation. The reason for that is that everyone else has decided to cover the story. However, now that there is a settlement I thought I would post emailbattles.com list of “The Five Patents That Brought Blackberry Down”.

After a string of wins in court, BlackBerry maker Research-In-Motion had whittled the patents-in-suit from sixteen down to just five... and these were rejected upon the first re-examination by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). So why on earth would RIM pay patent holder NTP Incorporated over US$612 million? It boils down to time. The re-examination and appeal process can stretch out for years. Squashed between skittish investors and customers, RIM settled.

read more

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle . . .

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:00:56 -0500

Do Patent Examiners need more time? If examiners had more time would patent quality increase?

Patent examiners have a set amount of time--an average of 20 to 30 hours for computer software and hardware--to review a patent, handling any appeals and updates from the applicants as well, before issuing a final approval or rejection, says Robert Budens, president of the Patent Office Professional Association that represents examiners.

That time frame, Budens says, has not changed since 1976, despite added procedural complexity and accelerating technological advancement. If examiners exceed the time limits, they lose their jobs.

"From an examiner's point of view," says Budens, "the quality [of patent examinations] is suffering" as a result.

Via Yahoo and pcworld.com.

7 Million

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:00:36 -0500

The U.S.P.T.O has reached another milestone. This one is 7 Million.

The Department of Commerce's United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced it has awarded U.S. Patent 7,000,000 to DuPont senior researcher Dr. John P. O'Brien for inventing "Polysaccharide Fibers."

If you want to read the rest of the "story", the link can be found here. By the way in case you didn't know the Patent Office does pick the patent, presumably out of the lot of patents applications to be

Strong Patents are Drafted Strongly

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 15:41:49 -0500

An article from New Zealand surprisingly gets a lot of things right about the U.S. Patent system.

It is a myth that only weak patents are litigated. Quite the contrary, only strong ones are. That is because they cover important inventions that others want to copy.

The article correctly does not excuse the U.S. Patent Office for doing the best possible job during examination. However, it does place the burden on the lawyers for drafting from the outset the strongest possible patent application. The article also does provide this good advice for patent filers: