Friday food for thought: Reform this!

I’ve had a lot of fun over the last several years talking to patent attorneys, inventors, and business folks about the patent reform issue in the United States.  I’ve had intriguing conversations with colleagues, friends and adversaries alike.  The best discussions usually start something like this:  “Yeah…the changes would be a big deal.  Hey…I’ve got an idea…they should do this…..”

I’ve heard ideas that range from the well-thought-out, practical approach to a specific problem, to the academically-interesting-but-not-so-practical approach (think maintenance fees based on economic impact of a patent), to the downright wacky.

I thought I’d share a couple of my favorites.  One is serious, and one is wacky.  I think they’re both great ideas.

Try this on for practicality - why doesn’t the Patent and Trademark Office build regional offices in strategic locations around the country that would allow it to build the examining corps by tapping local, specialized talent for particular technology areas.  Detroit seems a logical place for an Office that specializes in mechanical and electrical engineering (and, um, I’m guessing there’s going to be a few talented automotive engineers looking for new careers over the next several years).  A computer/software shop could be established in northern California (could the PTO compete in this labor market?) and a biotech/pharma Office could be set up in Boston or New Jersey.  The whole network could be backed by a computer/software system that allows any Examiner in any location to work on any application.  I’m betting that a private company faced with the specialized labor demands and turnover rates experienced by the Office would have done this years ago….

And now the wacky…..I’m always glad to hear people thinking of new approaches, but come on!  Examiner house calls?  Yes…someone once suggested to me that the Office should “dispatch” an Examiner to the inventor’s home (or company) when examination is first initiated.  I dismissed this at first (as wacky), but grew to like it the more I thought about it.  This idea has real genius behind it - a short period of intense prosecution where both sides can focus on an application (or a family of related applications) for a brief period of time.  The current prosecution process is incredibly inefficient…taking several years to accomplish only several hours of actual work.  Using the housecall idea, the whole process could be compressed into a single span of intense work.  Think about it.  If an Examiner asked you to come to the Office (Examiners travelling just won’t work; we’ll have to make the “housecalls”) for “a couple days of intense prosecution” on a family of applications….would you do it?  You’d discuss the applications, the art, amendments (if necessary) and any other matters directly with the Examiner, and both of you would focus solely on the applications at hand.  You could break at times to talk in confidence with your client and the Examiner could leave to update searches, talk with other Examiners, etc.  At the end of a couple days, you might just walk away with a Notice of Allowance, or two, or three.  Prosecution could be wrapped up weeks after the Examiner first opened the file, instead of years later…..

Advice given to me years ago by a senior attorney seems appropriate:  “If you can’t embrace the wacky ideas, you’ll never make it as a patent attorney.”

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Title: “Friday food for thought: Reform this!”

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Published:
08.18.06 / 9am
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