1. Implement the "Patent Examination Expressway" project.
"Patent Examination Expressway" (PPH) means that when the First Patent Office (OFF) makes a decision on the right of an application, the applicant can make an accelerated examination request for the corresponding application to the Second Patent Office (OSF), and OSF can use the OFF search and examination results. In this way, the applicant can obtain overseas patent authorization more conveniently, and the search and examination results can be used mutually among the bureaus, thus reducing his workload.
In view of this, USPTO decided to cooperate with EPO, Japan, South Korea, Britain and Canada to vigorously promote the project. Among them, the PPH project with Japan was officially implemented in June 2008, and the PPH project with Britain and Canada has also entered the experimental stage.
2. Strengthen international cooperation in the retrieval and examination of PCT applications.
In order to improve the efficiency and quality of patent examination and concentrate on dealing with a large number of domestic backlogs, USPTO began to cooperate with the Australian Intellectual Property Office in 2005, and Australia provided PCT application retrieval and examination services. In 2007, the Australian Intellectual Property Office handled nearly 65,438+0,200 PCT applications in different technical fields for USPTO.
In addition, USPTO and Swedish Patent Registration Office (PRV) launched a similar pilot project in September 2007 to test the feasibility of providing PCT application retrieval and examination services to USPTO by PRV. According to the relevant regulations of the project, PRV will provide retrieval and review services for 50 PCT applications accepted by USPTO; USPTO will evaluate the results to determine whether the working quality of PRV meets its requirements.
3, the implementation of rapid review procedures.
In August 2006, USPTO began to implement the fast review procedure. According to this procedure, inventions in any technical field can be reviewed within 65,438+02 months, and a decision on whether to authorize them can be made. Compared with the past, the examination period can be shortened by 25%-75%. However, this procedure requires higher application documents. The total number of claims in each patent application shall not exceed 20, including no more than 3 independent claims, and shall not contain multiple subordinate claims; The applicant must complete the search for the existing technology by himself, and provide all the existing technologies and related materials that are most similar to his invention and creation; Explain the difference and practical value between the invention and the prior art, and whether the contents of the specification and the claims are consistent. In addition, the time limit for applicants to reply to various notifications has also been shortened.
On March 3rd, 2007, the first patent authorized by this program was published. Fortunately, in September 2006, American brother company submitted a patent for printer ink gauge to USPTO. According to the normal procedure, the average examination period of patent application in the field of ink cartridge technology is 25.4 months, while the patent is only 6 months from examination to authorization, saving the applicant 18 months.
4. Start the "Pilot of Patent Examination and Public Evaluation"
On June 15, 2007, USPTO began to implement a one-year "peer review pilot". The project involves 250 published patent applications in the computer field, all of which are voluntarily participated by the applicants, and the USPTO is allowed to solicit opinions from the public on their patent applications (according to the current laws of the United States, the public has no right to submit opinions on their patent applications without the consent of the applicants). Professionals in the computer field can examine 250 published patent applications, and submit relevant technical reference documents on the claim content of the application before the examiner conducts a real trial, so that the examiner can master more relevant technical information in a short time, thus shortening the examination period of patent applications. In addition, in order to further speed up the examination process and improve the examination quality, USPTO also supports applicants to submit retrieval and supporting documents, and suggests that Congress pass a legislation to allow third parties to submit appropriate relevant information during the examination of patent applications.