November/December 2008 / Intellectual Property
USPTO Pushing for New Rules
Due to its enormous backlog of pending applications, the USPTO has proposed new rules and legislation to streamline the process. The USPTO has estimated that the average patent application now requires three years to examine.
Congress is to blame, the author says, because after requiring the USPTO to collect enough in fees to fully fund its operations, it diverted large amounts of those funds to unrelated government programs. Congress effectively taxed patent applicants by charging fees without leaving enough resources to provide the services the taxes paid for.
The proposed rules include limiting the number of rounds of examination allowed for a given patent application and all related applications. This would force many applicants to use up all their rounds before receiving a full evaluation and limit the number of claims made in a specific patent application, as well as any related applications, thus weakening patents. Intense lobbying has prevented the rules from being im?plemented, but the backlog is not sustainable.
Since the rules will cause problems for patent applicants if they’re adopted, companies should file applications on any inventions that are under development soon to protect their key technology.
