The USPTO

The Patent Office is Getting Faster

I have some cases that have been pending for years and private PAIR still says that first action in the case is 60 months away.

However, I recently had a first Office action come a mere 111 days after the date of filing. The case was filed in October of last year and I received a full Office action in January of this year. This is for a utility application in the mechanical arts, and I also filed a Petition to Make Special due to the inventor’s age. I received approval for the Petition to Make Special on one day and the Office action the next.

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Slowing Down Patent Issuance

There are many strategies and situations where slowing down the patent from issuing is an enormous benefit to the client. Personally, I take a very proactive approach to making the patent issue as late as possible where this is needed, such as filing a provisional application. I could not bear the thought of writing a sloppy patent application or intentionally filing claims are ambiguous or need a lot of work to clean up. I think it is reprehensible to intentionally and needlessly drag out prosecution by filing endless responses to Office actions, because it lines the pockets of the attorney without benefiting the client. I do think there are legitimate, low cost mechanisms that can extend the prosecution time to help the client get the most protection for the money spent.

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Who Said The Patent Office Was Slow – My Application Only Took 71 Days for Allowance

Maybe things are changing at the US Patent Office.

I filed an original design patent on February 6 of this year and received a notice of allowance dated April 18. That is a mere pendency of 71 days. It will likely take the PTO longer to get the application through the publication process than the entire examination process. I thought that it took longer than that just to get through the Office of Initial Patent Examination.

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