Yesterday the USPTO concluded its two-day Patent Quality Summit. The event, which was part of the USPTO’s “Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative,” highlighted three quality “pillars” over the two days, including excellence in USPTO work products, excellence in measuring patent quality, and excellence in customer service, and six related proposals. Throughout the day, panels of USPTO experts presented and discussed with stakeholders proposals 3-6: improving clarity of the record; review of and improvement to quality metrics; review of compact prosecution; and in-person examiner interview capability.
In discussions on improving quality metrics, many participants commented on the difference between measuring the quality of the USPTO’s processes and measuring the quality of the resulting product. Some advocated for more end-user input on the quality of the resulting product. In discussions on compact prosecution, participants questioned the current model and explored options relating to requests for continuing examination and final office actions, including eliminating them entirely. A recording of the Summit will be available here.
