The figures were part of the FY 2007 Performance and Accountability Report, released last Thursday, and are being hailed by the PTO as “breaking year-end numbers that reveal historic improvement in the quality of patent and trademark reviews and subsequently the quality of issued patents and registered trademarks”, according to a recent press release.
The report reveals that in FY 2007, 362,227 patent applications were examined, representing the highest number in history, and that only 51% of patents were granted, down from 72% granted in FY 2000. The findings also indicated that all trade mark-related performance goals were exceeded for the second year in a row.
The only target not met was for “patent average first action pendency”, which measures the time from filing until an examiner’s initial determination of the patentability of an invention. At a rate of 25.3 months, this figure exceeded the target by 1.6 months. The report states that: “This target was not met because of the increasing dual challenges of rising workloads and a shift of applications from traditional arts to more complex technologies.”
One serious point of contention for many in the patent community is the PTO’s definition of “quality”, which some find questionable. Although the report showed that patent quality compliance was 96.5%, many critics feel that this statistic does not take into account prior art not found by examiners.
In a recent report titled “The 2007 PTO Report: Myths and Realities”, Hal Wegner of Foley & Lardner said that “the major element in determination of patent quality is whether the claims of patents that are granted are free from prior art that will either anticipate or render the claims obvious under the twin statutory requirements of 35 USC §§ 102, 103. There is no indication of how this can be measured, nor – lacking experienced lawyers to do the quality review – whether the PTO itself is capable of making such measurements.”
Perhaps in subtle reference to the pending litigation concerning the controversial proposed claims and continuations rules, which were enjoined earlier this month and would have placed additional demands on patent applicants, director Jon Dudas lauded the PTO’s achievements and focused on the “shared responsibility” between examiners and applicants: "The sustained trend of quality improvements are a tribute to the internal quality initiatives of our managers and employees. Of course, the quality of patent and trademark examination is a shared responsibility that begins with the application."
Managing IP subscribers can read an extensive interview with Dudas, conducted last month, in the November issue. Non-subscribers can take out a free trial.
