Today I moderated the #innochat community chat on the topic: How does the US Patent office period of time for application, compare to other Patent offices around the world? As part of the Twitter chat I’d invited the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to join the discussion regarding Patent Pendency. Jim Dwyer the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations was tweeting for the office. Here’s a synopsis of my exchange with Mr. Dwyer.
@johncass What is ‘pendency’ and how is it measured? #innochat
@USPTO We have two major pendency components. 1- First Action Pendency is time from filing to first office action. #innochat
@USPTO 2- Total Pendency is time of filing to disposal of the case. (Disposal is either patent granted or abandonment) #innochat
@USPTO Regarding First Action Pendency, it is currently 26.9 months. Total Pendency is 33.9. #innochat
The community was discussing the issue of patent pendency at several patent offices around the world, and in response @uspto tweeted the following:
@USPTO We have data from the “Four Office Statistics Report” covering data from the European, Japanese, Korean patent offices and USPTO. #innochat
@USPTO The report provides information on each individual Office, worldwide patenting activity, and patent activity at the Four Offices. #innochat
@USPTO The report with data for calendar year 2010 can be found here: trilateral.net/statistics/tsr… #innochat
@johncass Why is pendency important? #innochat
@USPTO Short pendency provides patents quicker, which allows patent holders to access capital more quickly & with certainty. #innochat
@USPTO But that’s just one major reason why shortening pendency is a top priority of the USPTO. #innochat
@johncass What influences pendency? #innochat
@USPTO What influences pendency? Examiner resources, such as the # of examiners & volume of new patent applications. #innochat
@USPTO We received over 506k new patent applications in FY11. We currently have 6664 examiners at USPTO. #innochat
And from Kris Ronald Anderson @berkshire_ideas what segment of business has the most applys. #innochat
@USPTO Typically the biggest volume is electrical-based inventions. #innochat
@johncass What is the USPTO doing to decrease pendency? #innochat
@USPTO We r decreasing pendency by hiring examiners & improving examination processes-such as worksharing among participating IP offices. #innochat
@USPTO Other pendency reduction efforts include resolving issues w/ applicants early in prosecution by strengthening interview practices. #innochat
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