Patent Office Professionals Oppose Bill
U.S. patent examiners and 13 other unions want the U.S. Senate to block patent reform legislation, reports InformationWeek.
The Patent Office Professional Association (POPA) issued a statement Thursday saying that the Patent Reform Act contains provisions that endanger American intellectual property. POPA, which represents nearly 6,000 U.S. patent examiners, including engineers, scientists, and designers, joined the other unions to sign a letter to members of the Senate, urging their opposition to the bill, S. 1145.
The Patent Office Professional Association (POPA) issued a statement Thursday saying that the Patent Reform Act contains provisions that endanger American intellectual property. POPA, which represents nearly 6,000 U.S. patent examiners, including engineers, scientists, and designers, joined the other unions to sign a letter to members of the Senate, urging their opposition to the bill, S. 1145.
POPA president Robert Budens said the bill's requirement that applicants submit prior art searches, for all relevant patent and nonpatent literature, would "effectively outsource the search." He said that contracted searches would allow foreign entities to bypass legal protections."Now that S.1145 is heading into the final stretch, more and more position letters are being sent to congressional members and fellow practitioners, voicing support and opposition to specific provisions of the Act," notes patent attorney Peter Zura, who has posted links to from many of these letters with excerpts here on his 271 Patent Blog. Peter is also a former patent examiner with the USPTO.
He also said that instead of simply trying to hire 1,200 new patent examiners in 2008, the United States Patent and Trademark Office should try retaining skilled and experienced patent examiners, while providing them with the time and resources they need to search relevant prior art. Budens said the current attrition rate among trained examiners is in the double digits.
POPA said that despite growing volumes of prior art and an increasingly complex application process, the time allowed for examination of patent applications has not changed in 32 years.
