[Ecommerce] Reducing patent backlog could take years, agency official says

[Jeff Williams]

All,


http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=31095&printerfriendlyVers=1&

By Molly M. Peterson, CongressDaily

Reducing a backlog of hundreds of thousands of pending patent
applications could take several years, despite a budget boost
that has enabled the Patent and Trademark Office to hire a
record number of examiners this year, PTO director Jon
Dudas said Monday.

"The current backlog is about 490,000 applications -- the highest
ever," Dudas said during a Senate Judiciary Intellectual Property
Subcommittee hearing on overhauling the patent system.

Dudas said PTO has received a record number of patent applications
every year for the past 20 years, but did not begin hiring in record
numbers until this year.

PTO received $1.6 billion in FY05, $342 million more than it received
in FY04. Dudas said PTO is using much of that increase to hire 860 new
examiners this year, for a total of about 4,400.

"Three years down the line, four years down the line, the hiring we're
doing will have an effect," Dudas said, noting that it takes an average
of 28 months for PTO to decide whether to grant a patent. He said
for more complex subjects, such as data-processing technologies,
the average patent pendency is about three years.

"Without fundamental changes in the way [PTO] operates, the
average pendency in these areas could double by 2008," Dudas
said.

Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., noted that PTO
receives more than 350,000 patent applications annually and
approved 187,000 applications in 2004.

"That is more than 500 approved patents every single day, and I
think that could be a matter for concern," Leahy said. "When
non-innovative inventions are patented, some patent-holders fear
they will spend more time litigating than they do innovating."

Leahy said lawmakers should consider modifying the process to
allow for patent challenges "before costly, highly technical
litigation is required." Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee
Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said there is a "high degree
of agreement" among stakeholders on the need for a post-grant
review process.

But Hatch noted that "significant differences remain" on other issues,
including whether to change the rules by which patent holders can
obtain injunctive relief against patent infringers.

Regards,

--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 134k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
    Pierre Abelard

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
IDNS. div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
 Registered Email addr with the USPS
Contact Number: 214-244-4827