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>[14.Apr.08]
Patents - USPTO’s
New Program to Reduce Pendency and Improve Quality
Source: USPTO [Adapted]
The Commerce Department’s United States Patent
and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced, for 28.Apr.2008,
the kick off of the six-month pilot program that will
allow an applicant to have an interview with the patent
examiner prior to the first Office action on the merits
in a new utility application. The First Action Interview
Pilot program will expedite prosecution of the patent
application by enhancing the interaction between the
applicant and the examiner, providing the applicant
an opportunity to resolve patentability issues one-on-one
with the examiner at the beginning of the review process.
Currently, an applicant
may request an interview prior to a first action. Granting
of an interview is within the discretion of the examiner
who has not yet reviewed the case, and the applicant
may be required to identify relevant documents and explain
how the invention is patentable over these documents.
Under the pilot program,
the examiner will conduct a prior art search and provide
the applicant a pre-interview communication which is
a condensed preview of objections or rejections proposed
against the claims. Within 30 days from the issue date
of the pre-interview communication, the applicant must
either choose not to have a first action interview with
the examiner, or schedule the interview and file a proposed
amendment and/or remarks.
This pilot is currently
limited to two technology areas to facilitate the USPTO’s
ability to gauge the success of the pilot: applications
classified in Class 709 (electrical computers and digital
processing systems: multi-computer data transferring)
and applications in Class 707 (data processing: database
and file management or data structures).
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