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Michelle LeeUnder Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTOUnited States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
FY 14-15: Agency Priority Goal
Improve Patent Processing Time and Quality
Priority Goal
Goal Overview
American innovators and businesses rely on the legal rights associated with patents in order to reap the benefits of their innovations. Timely issuance of high-quality patents provides certainty in the market and allows businesses and innovators to make informed, timely decisions on product and service development. Processing patent applications in a quality and timely manner advances economic prosperity by using intellectual property (IP) as a tool to create a business environment that cultivates and protects new ideas, technologies, services and products.
On September 16, 2011, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) (Pub. L. No. 112-29) was signed into law. This sweeping reform introduced some of the biggest changes to the patent system in 200 years. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented this law and will continue to identify and implement the efficiencies, tools, and policies necessary to increase the number of applications it is capable of examining while also improving quality.
Strategies
Developing a Nationwide Workforce: USPTO is committed to hiring, training and retaining the most qualified workforce in order to better meet mission priorities and improve our ability to address current challenges and opportunities. In support of that commitment, the USPTO recognized the need to broaden hiring practices to achieve its hiring targets and attract patent examiner expertise in locations across the country. This initiative established a USPTO presence in four metropolitan areas.
AIA Implementation: Completing the implementation of the AIA, and establishing the sustainable funding model that has been provided by the AIA and that will allow the Agency to manage fluctuations in filings and revenues while sustaining operations on a multi-year basis, continues to be a priority into FY 2014. The process of implementing the AIA began upon enactment on September 16, 2011 and has been concluded
In March 2015, the USPTO launched a critical new tool for patent examiners, marking the beginning of the retirement of certain legacy IT tools, and furthering our commitment to sharpening operating efficiencies as we modernize IT systems. Newly released to the patent examining Corps was Version 2.0 of the Docket and Application Viewer (DAV), a customizable, searchable tool to help examiners manage their work load and prioritize tasks. This tool replaces the Desktop Application Navigator (eDAN) tool they use now.
This new tool, like others to come, will help the agency in the drive to increase patent quality. Once fully deployed, the USPTO’s “Patents End-to-End” (PE2E) system will provide examiners with an improved way of processing patent applications, integrating activities currently managed across separate systems into a central place, and leveraging modern technology. Late in 2016, the USPTO expects to launch more releases critical to examiners including Office Action and Search tools. Between now and the end of 2016, there will be incremental software releases for a pilot group of examiners to use.
The DAV was successfully deployed to over 120 servers in 48 hours in late March by the USPTO’s Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) in close collaboration with our Office of Patent Information Management and the Patent Office Professional Association union. Training for this tool began in late March. The DAV tool also reflects our teams’ use of “agile” practices that focus on user involvement and feedback, while “DevOps,” provides a method of emphasizing tight collaboration. In the last few years, we have used agile and user-centered design to enhance how we develop and deliver new software to users.
Progress Update
The America Invents Act (AIA) became law almost four years ago on September 16, 2011, to modernize the U.S. patent system. One of the provisions in the AIA converted the United States to a first-inventor-to-file system from a first-to-invent system. The first-inventor-to-file provisions became effective on March 16, 2013—the eighteen month anniversary of the AIA. The USPTO has implemented the first-inventor-to-file provisions through a series of rules as well as a guidance document. During fiscal year 2013, the USPTO provided training to our examiners on the new statutory framework and how to identify whether an application is subject to examination under the first-inventor-to-file provisions of the AIA or the first-to-invent provisions of pre-AIA law.
The USPTO has implemented other important initiatives; namely the backlog reduction in Requests for Continued Examination (RCEs) and the implementation of the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) system. Both of these initiatives have directly impacted production in the short term. Since 2009, the backlog of unexamined RCEs has risen from about 20,000 to a high of about 112,000 in 2013. The USPTO has implemented a number of measures to address this increasing backlog of RCEs, including new incentives for patent examiners to more promptly act on these RCEs. As a result of implementing some significant new incentives in 2013, the backlog of unexamined RCEs has dropped by about 85,000 in the last 24 months and now stands at 26,901.
Although this temporary redirection of resources impacted the ability of our examiners to focus on the backlog of unexamined patent applications, the USPTO felt it was the right thing to do to address our stakeholders’ concerns regarding the escalating backlog of unexamined RCEs. Because of the outstanding efforts of our examiners, the backlog of unexamined RCE applications was reduced by 42.1% during FY 2015, and now stands at a manageable level.
When the FY 14-15 APGs were set in December 2013, the USPTO did not anticipate the level of effort for the reduction in the RCE backlog and the implementation of the CPC. Therefore, the annual APG targets were not achieved. However, the USPTO is on track to meet stakeholders’ expectations of achieving the long-term 10/20 pendency targets while also addressing other stakeholder concerns. The unexamined patent application backlog decreased from 569,906 in FY 15 Q3 to 553,221 in FY 15 Q4. As mentioned above, the temporary redirection of resources to address our stakeholders’ concerns regarding the RCE backlog hampered the USPTO’s ability to reduce the unexamined patent application backlog and achieve its pendency target. However, the USPTO successfully reduced the RCE backlog by over 52,000 applications during FY 2015. In addition, first action pendency decreased from 17.8 months in FY 15 Q3 to 17.3 months in FY 15 Q4 and total pendency remained stable at 26.6 months in both FY 15 Q3 and Q4.
The CPC was launched in January 2013. It is the outcome of a joint partnership effort between the USPTO and the European Patent Office (EPO) to harmonize their respective existing classification systems and migrate towards a common classification scheme. Transitioning approximately 8,000 patent examiners to the new CPC classification system is a large, but necessary, undertaking. The investment of examiner training time is an important investment in quality, and it is having a temporary impact on our examination output. As of January 1, 2015, the USPTO has successfully relegated the United States Patent Classification System (USPC) to a static art collection and all patent examiners (100%) are now searching in CPC. While the target was achieved on schedule, the USPTO will continue to monitor this program, including both the effectiveness and impacts that CPC has on examination. Some technology areas were more impacted by the transition to CPC. These areas will be closely monitored and necessary adjustments will be made.
Despite the fact that both the first action pendency and total pendency targets were not met, each metric declined by almost a month during FY 15. Now that the USPTO has successfully completed the implementation of the CPC and the RCE backlog has been reduced to a sustainable level, the office can focus its resources on continuing the significant decline in pendency and the unexamined patent application backlog that were achieved during FY 15..The quality composite rate decreased from 58.5 in FY 15 Q3 to 42.9 in FY 15 Q4. The substantial drop in the composite score from FY 14 to FY 15 is not the result of a single factor but rather a cumulative effect of small, non-significant changes for all of the subcomponents that make up the composite. When compared to FY 14, the largest declines are coming from the final disposition compliance rate and the internal quality survey. Both of these items were at our stretch goal level in FY15Q1 and the subsequent declines, although rather minor in numerical values, have a somewhat exaggerated effect on the composite as the overall composite score reacts sharply when it is at or near stretch goal levels for a particular component. This sensitivity that may not mirror the true performance of the composite subcomponents is one of the key reasons the composite is being revisited for FY 16.
In support of the Agency’s 2014-2018 Strategic Plan, the USPTO released a Federal Register notice on July 9, 2014 to gather stakeholder input regarding optimal patent first action and total pendency target levels. The USPTO recognizes the importance of continually refining and defining optimal pendency to take into consideration the external environment affecting workload, the commitments made to the fee paying public and the need to ensure a balance between workload, production capacity, and requirements of the Intellectual Property (IP) community. Based on feedback from stakeholders, the USPTO launched an updated Patents Data Visualization Center in April 2015. The new dashboard included data on patent term adjustment (PTA), design patent data, and other prosecution related metrics. In the fourth quarter of 2015, USPTO launched an Office of Petitions Timeline.
On March 25-26, the USPTO engaged in a productive exchange of ideas with the public on patent quality. We held an unprecedented event, a Patent Quality Summit at our headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, on March 25-26, with more than 300 in person attendees and over 1,200 online participants over the two days. The summit was the kickoff event for the USPTO’s comprehensive Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI), which focuses on improving patent operations and procedures to provide the best possible work products, to enhance the customer experience, and to improve existing quality metrics.
The Patent Quality Summit provided a forum for a robust discussion and exchange of ideas where the public, experts from the USPTO, industry, and academia examined ways to enhance patent quality, and also considered six specific proposals. Participants discussed whether applicants would use in-person interviews with examiners, and if so, what logistical arrangements would need to be made to enable those interviews given the agency’s telework program.
The USPTO is committed to providing the most current and robust training for its patent examiners. In view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Alice Corp., Myriad, and Mayo, the USPTO is now offering patent examiners additional training on subject matter eligibility and claim clarity issues related to 35 U.S.C. § 101 and § 112. We are also further enhancing our training for patent examiners on search skills and the interviewing process.
In order to streamline the Patents Organization, the USPTO has consolidated the Office of Process Improvement, Office of Patent Quality Assurance, Office of Patent Training, and Office of Patents Ombudsman and Stakeholder Outreach into the newly created Office of Quality Management. These changes will also improve oversight and coordination of the quality processes.
The USPTO recently launched a monthly “Patent Quality Chat” webinar series. The topic of the first webinar in June was clarity of the record, the July webinar focused on in-person patent examiner interviews. Webinars were also held in August and September which focused on measuring patent quality and improving global patent prosecution. Furthermore, the USPTO plans to hold a series of quality forums beginning at the end of September and continuing through October to keep employees up to date on the progress made to date on the EPQI. Some of the themes identified thus far include:
- Clearly articulating the Office’s position on the record is a critical component of quality.
- How we measure patent quality should be clearly explained.
- More detailed documentation of oral discussions on the record would be very helpful.
- Consider increased usage of reason(s) for allowance to clarify claim construction.
- Improve training on the use of form paragraphs for prior art rejections.
- Increase the use of 35 U.S.C. §112 for purposes of clarifying claim scope and clarity.
- The quality of the interview is much more important than the type of the interview (e.g., telephonic, video conferencing, in-person).
To better serve patent applicants, practitioners, and stakeholders, the USPTO expanded business hours to contact our Patents Ombudsman in its regional offices. The Patents Ombudsman program assists applicants or their representatives with issues that arise during patent application prosecution. The ombudsman representatives help improve communication between applicants and examiners, more quickly address issues that arise during prosecution, and reduce unnecessary delays during the process.
In support of President Obama’s executive actions to bring greater transparency to the patent system and level the playing field for innovators, the USPTO formulated a notice of proposed rulemaking requiring patent applicants and owners to regularly update ownership information during proceedings before the USPTO. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on “Changes to Require Identification of Attributable Owner” was released in January 2014 and two public meetings were held in March—one in Alexandria, Virginia and one in San Francisco, California—to discuss these proposed changes.
In furtherance of our goal to increase transparency of patent ownership information, the USPTO has improved our Assignment Search database to make it simpler for the public to locate patent assignment information. The new Assignment Search database has several improved features. First, it uses faster technology and features a modernized user interface that quickly and easily displays patent ownership results. Second, it offers more searchable fields. Using multiple search terms, a user can now search by a patent application number and by the entity that submitted the assignment information. After getting initial search results, the user can use filters to narrow the results to a more manageable subset and print search results.
The USPTO has maintained an assignment database for patent ownership information since 1980. Because recording in the database is voluntary, it is not a comprehensive source for all patent or patent application ownership information, but it is an excellent source of much information that is free to the public and updated daily. In preparation for our next phase of improvements, more than 50,000 public users accessed our Assignment Search database, and many offered valuable feedback that the USPTO will incorporate into future enhancements of the tool.
In response to executive action number 2 which deals with improving claim clarity, including through the use of glossaries in patent applications, the USPTO on June 2, 2014 implemented the Glossary Pilot Program. The Glossary Pilot Program has been extended through June 2, 2015 and is designed to enhance claim clarity in the specification of software-related patent applications through use of glossaries by patent applicants. Currently, using the Glossary terminology, 114 petitions have been granted, 47 petitions are under review, and 94 first actions have been completed.
On September 15, 2014, in response to executive action number 3, the USPTO announced the establishment of an online Patent Litigation Toolkit to empower and inform “Main Street” retailers and consumers that may have been threatened with a patent lawsuit or received a demand letter. In addition to providing a useful glossary of legal terms, the toolkit provides access to a patent attorney database and it features information about law school clinics that have programs to advise entrepreneurs who otherwise would not have access to high-quality intellectual property services.
On November 12, 2014, the USPTO announced that it would be hosting a roundtable on December 2, 2014 and requesting written comments on the USPTO’s use of crowdsourcing to identify relevant prior art. These efforts are part of executive action number 5. The objective of the roundtable was to (1) explore how the USPTO can utilize crowdsourcing tools to obtain relevant prior art in order to enhance the quality of examination and issued patents; and (2) ways the USPTO can leverage existing private sector solutions for the electronic receipt and hosting of crowdsourced materials as a means to provide prior art to examiners. Through a partnership with Reed Technology and Information Services, the USPTO released the Patent Application Alert Service. This system provides customized, email alerts to the public for free when patent applications of interest are published. Additionally, the system offers direct access to the published applications that meet your search criteria. The idea for the patent application alert service came from one of the public roundtables held at the USPTO.
The USPTO continues to make progress in the establishment of its regional offices, which are regional hubs for innovation. On October 15, 2015, the Silicon Valley Regional Office was opened. Located in the Silicon Valley’s central business district, the new office will help the West Coast region's entrepreneurs advance cutting-edge ideas to the marketplace, grow their businesses, and more efficiently navigate the world's strongest intellectual property system. The new office will assist the USPTO in fostering and protecting innovation. USPTO services will be readily accessible to all applicants and the office will serve as a hub of education and outreach to the West Coast Region. The West Coast Regional office will help entrepreneurs market their products quickly and provide resources tailored to local start-ups. Over the last few months, the Silicon Valley office has been active in outreach efforts with organizations including the San Francisco Economic Development Council, Maker Faire Bay Area, Licensing Executives Society, and IP law associations across the region. The office is actively engaging with startups and incubators, providing technology focused and industry specific workshops and presentations. Further, in June, the office worked with the USPTO’s IP Attaché program to hold outreach meetings in San Diego and Los Angeles. The purpose of these meetings was to hear directly from stakeholders about their international IP-related concerns and challenges, and how the IP Attaché Program can help.
The Elijah J. McCoy Regional Office in Detroit opened for business in July 2012 and continues to play a vital role for the agency and the local innovation community. Currently, 102 patent examiners are on board. The Texas Regional Office is due to open in the fall of 2015 and will be located in the Terminal Annex Federal Building in downtown Dallas. In May 2015, the USPTO participated in Dallas’s first Startup Weekend Women's Edition. The Rocky Mountain Satellite Office in Denver, CO was opened on June 30, 2014. 88 patent examiners are already on board and eventually this office will create approximately 130 jobs, including patent examiners, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges, and regional outreach officials.
The Rocky Mountain Regional Office in Denver has been working with important industries in the region such as clean tech and biotech and organizations such as the Denver Mini-Maker Fair, Rocky Mountain IP Institute, and SXSW V2V. On April 2, the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation awarded its Metropolitan Cooperation Award to individuals whose collective work resulted in the selection of Denver as a USPTO office location, and Deputy Director Russell Slifer and Senator Bennett accepted the award, demonstrating the office’s strong connection with the community.
The USPTO continues to expand our Patent Pro Bono Program that provides free legal assistance to under-resourced inventors and small businesses interested in securing patent protection for their inventions. The Rocky Mountain office also helped spearhead the recent expansion of the USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono program to Colorado, in conjunction with the Colorado Bar Association Intellectual Property Section and the Mi Casa Resource Center. The Colorado Pro Bono Patent Initiative, or the ProBoPat program, seeks to connect low income Colorado inventors with Colorado patent professionals for patent preparation and prosecution legal services on a pro bono or significantly reduced-fee basis. The program now operates in 47 states, with nationwide coverage coming soon.
Recently, the USPTO supported new program launches as well as expansions. The New York Patent Pro Bono Program has expanded to include New Jersey and Connecticut. In February, the Georgia Patent Pro Bono Program held its launch event, and the Missouri Patent Pro Bono Program—covering the states of Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma—also held its launch event. On April 20, the Minnesota Patent Pro Bono Program launched an expansion into North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, and on April 30, the Massachusetts Patent Pro Bono Program launched an expansion into Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine. The Patent Pro Bono Program serves a vital role in the marketplace of innovation.
On February 13, 2015, the United States deposited its instrument of ratification to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. This marks the last step in the membership process for the United States to become a Member of the Hague Union. The treaty will go into effect for the United States on May 13, 2015. When the Hague Agreement enters into force for the United States, it will be possible for U.S. applicants to file a single international design application either with WIPO in Geneva, Switzerland, or the USPTO to obtain protection in multiple economies. The Hague system for the protection of industrial designs provides a practical solution for registering up to 100 designs in over 62 territories with the filing of one single international application.
The Hague system offers applicants increased filing efficiencies and potential cost savings in pursuing protection for their innovative industrial designs. As envisioned under the Geneva Act, the United States will continue to substantively examine design applications and to grant design rights in the form of U.S. design patents, whether the application is filed pursuant to the Hague Agreement or as a United States design patent application.
- The USPTO has cultivated an organizational culture that is both responsive and transparent to its internal and external stakeholders. The agency’s stakeholders expressed their concerns regarding the growing backlog of unexamined RCE applications and the USPTO responded quickly as it felt that it was the right thing to do. Despite the fact that the RCE reduction initiatives would impede our ability to reduce the unexamined patent application backlog and pendency, a redirection of resources to RCE applications was necessary to stem the growth of RCEs. The RCE backlog is now at a sustainable level and the USPTO can now direct its resources to continuing the drive towards the 10 and 20 month pendency targets by 2019. As outlined in the FY 16-17 Agency Priority Goal, the USPTO is committed to reducing first action pendency to less than 14 months and total pendency to less than 23 months by September 2017.
- The USPTO received more than 1,100 comments and suggestions about the new Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative in response to a Federal Register notice, internal Patents Forums, and the Patent Quality Summit. The USPTO has taken the ideas and suggestions provided and are developing improvements in all aspects of patent quality. The USPTO will hold four Patent Quality Forums for Examiners beginning at the end of September and continuing through October 2015. These forums present an opportunity for the office to bring patent examiners up to date on the progress made on the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative. In addition, a Patent Quality Discussion will be held on November 4 in Michigan and a second will be held on November 6 in North Carolina. On November 10, a Patent Quality Chat Webinar will be held. The purpose of this webinar is to update stakeholders on the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative.
- The USPTO’s regional office in Dallas is due to open November 9, 2015. The USPTO’s regional offices play a crucial role in the office’s efforts to assist inventors, entrepreneurs, and small businesses in their respective regions, while supporting the USPTO’s core mission of fostering American innovation and competitiveness.
- In the first quarter of FY 2016, the USPTO will add data from the Office of International Patent Cooperation (OIPC) to its Patents Data Visualization Center.
- AIA Examiner Training: The USPTO will continue to offer “just-in-time” training for those examiners who have applications on their dockets to be examined under the first-inventor-to-file provisions.
- The After Final Consideration Program 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) and Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) pilot programs: These programs have both been extended through the end of fiscal year 2016. To date, over 5,600 Request for Continued Examination (RCE) applications have been avoided due to the QPIDS pilot. The USPTO will continue to monitor the progress of each pilot program.
Next Steps
No Data Available
Expand All
Performance Indicators
Unexamined Patent Application Backlog
First Action Pendency
Total Pendency
Monthly patent applications received
Monthly patent applications that have received a first office action
Monthly unexamined patent application backlog
Patent Quality Composite Score
Contributing Programs & Other Factors
Patent Business Unit
Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC)
No Data Available
