United States Patent and Trademark Office

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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO or USPTO) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that provides patent and trademark protection to inventors and businesses for their inventions and corporate and product identification. The PTO is currently based in Alexandria, Virginia, after a recent move from the Crystal City area of Arlington, Virginia. Since 1991, the office has been fully funded by fees charged for processing patents and trademarks. The current head of the USPTO is Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property Jon W. Dudas, a position to which he was nominated by President George W. Bush in March 2004 and appointed July 30, 2004.

The USPTO cooperates with the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO) pursuant trilateral agreements. The USPTO is also a Receiving Office, an International Searching Authority and an International Preliminary Examination Authority for international patent applications filed in accordance with the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

Contents 1 Mission 2 Structure 3 Fee diversion 4 Patents 5 Representation 6 Electronic filing system 7 Criticisms 7.1 Controversial patents 7.2 Slow patent examination 8 See also 9 External links 10 References and notes

[edit] Mission

The mission of the PTO is to promote "industrial and technological progress in the United States and strengthen the national economy" by:

• administering the laws relating to patents and trademarks;
• advising the Secretary of Commerce, the President of the United States, and the administration on patent, trademark, and copyright protection; and
• providing advice on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property.

[edit] Structure

The PTO has about 7,300 employees, nearly all of whom are based at its huge five-building headquarters complex in Alexandria. Of those, about 3,000 are patent examiners and 400 are trademark examining attorneys; the rest are support staff. Patent examiners are generally scientists and engineers who do not necessarily hold law degrees, while all trademark examiners must be licensed attorneys. All examiners work under a strict quota system.

In recent years, the USPTO has seen increasing delays between when a patent application if filed and when it issues. To address its workload challenges, the USPTO has undertaken an aggressive program of hiring and recruitment. In Fiscal Year 2006 (year ending September 30, 2006), the USPTO hired 1,193 new patent examiners. ^[1] The USPTO expects to continue hiring patent examiners at a rate of 1,200 per year from 2007 through 2012.

The USPTO has also instituted a new training program for patent examiners called "Patent Examiner Training Academy." This academy is an eight-month program designed to teach new patent examiners the fundamentals of patent law, practice and examination procedure in a college-style environment. The program was begun in 2006. ^[2].

[edit] Fee diversion

Each year, Congress "diverts" about 10% of the fees that the USPTO has collected into the general treasury of the United States. In effect, this takes monies collected from the patent system to use for the general budget. This fee diversion is generally opposed by patent practitioners (e.g patent attorneys and patent agents), inventors, and the USPTO.^[3] These stakeholders would rather use the funds to improve the patent office and patent system, such as by implementing the USPTO's 21st Century Strategic Plan.^[4]

[edit] Patents

• Each year, the PTO issues thousands of patents to companies and individuals all around the world. As of March 2006, the PTO has issued over seven million patents.

• The X-Patents (the first 10,000 issued between 1790 and 1836) were destroyed by a fire; less than 3,000 of those have been recovered and re-issued with numbers that include an "X". The X is generally at the end of the number, except for the first patent which has the X at the beginning of the number. The X distinguishes the patents from those issued after the fire.

• On July 31, 1790, the USPTO awarded its first patent to Samuel Hopkins for an improvement "in the making of Pot ash and Pearl ash by a new Apparatus and Process." This patent was signed by then president George Washington.

[edit] Representation

The PTO only allows certain qualified persons to practice before the PTO. Practice includes filing of patent applications on behalf of inventors, prosecuting patent applications on behalf of inventors, and participating in administrative appeals and other proceedings before the PTO examiners and boards. The PTO sets its own standards for who may practice and requires that any person who practices become registered. An USPTO-registered non-attorney professional is called a patent agent and an USPTO-registered attorney is called a patent attorney.

In order to become registered to practice before the USPTO, an applicant must demonstrate to the USPTO's satisfaction certain scientific and technical competencies and then pass a difficult USPTO-administered patent bar exam called the USPTO registration examination. This bar exam covers the voluminous regulations and procedures that govern USPTO practice. The registration process is managed by the USPTO's Office of Enrollment & Discipline (OED).^[5]

However, individual inventors may file and prosecute patent applications by themselves. This is called filing a patent pro se. The inventor does not need to be represented by a registered patent attorney or patent agent. If it appears to a patent examiner, however, that an inventor filing a pro se application is not familiar with the proper procedures of the patent office, then the examiner may suggest that it is desirable for the inventor to obtain representation by a licensed patent attorney or agent. ^[6] The patent examiner cannot recommend a patent attorney or agent, but the patent office does post a list of registered attorneys or agents. ^[7]

It is not uncommon for individual inventors to file their own patents to potentially save thousands of dollars in agent/attorneys fees, since legal fees for the preparation and filing of a US patent application can run more than US$20,000.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Electronic filing system

The USPTO will accept patent applications filed in electronic form. As of March 2006, inventors or their patent agents/attorneys can file applications as PDF documents. The web page for submitting applications is https://sportal.uspto.gov/secure/portal/efs-unregistered. Filing fees can be paid by credit card or by a USPTO “deposit account”.

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Controversial patents

In November 2005, the USPTO was criticized by physicists for granting U.S. Patent 6,960,975  for an anti-gravity device. The journal Nature first highlighted this patent issued for a device that presumably amounts to a perpetual motion machine, defying the laws of physics.^{[8][9][10][11]} The device comprises a particular electrically superconducting shield and elecromagnetic generating device. The examiner allowed the claims because the design of the shield and device was novel and not obvious.^[12] In situations such as this where a substantial question of patentability is raised after a patent issues, the Commissioner of the Patent Office can order a reexamination of the patent.

U.S. Patent 5,443,036 , "A method of exercising a cat", which covers having a cat chase the beam from a laser pointer, is widely criticised as being obvious.

[edit] Slow patent examination

The US patent office has been criticized for taking an inordinate amount of time in examining patent applications. This is particularly true in the fast growing area of business method patents. As of 2005, patent examiners in the business method area were still examining patent applications filed in 2001.

The delay has been attributed by spokesmen for the Patent Office to a combination of a sudden increase in business method patent filings after the 1998 State Street Bank decision, the unfamiliarity of patent examiners with the business and financial arts (e.g. banking, insurance, stock trading etc.), and the issuance of a number of controversial patents (e.g. U.S. Patent 5,960,411  "Amazon one click patent") in the business method area.

[edit] See also

• United States patent law
• Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI)
• Confederate Patent Office
• Ex Parte Quayle
• Invention Secrecy Act
• John Ruggles
• Old Patent Office Building
• Patent office
• Patent Office Professional Association (POPA)
• Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB)
• Trilateral Offices

[edit] External links

• USPTO
  • Main page
  • Searches
  • Office of Enrollment & Discipline (OED)
  • Patent and Trademark Depository Library Program
  • Stopfakes.gov Small Business Resources

[edit] References and notes

v • d • e  Agencies under the United States Department of Commerce

Bureau of Industry and Security • Economics and Statistics Administration • Bureau of Economic Analysis • Census Bureau • Economic Development Administration • International Trade Administration • Minority Business Development Agency • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration • National Telecommunications and Information Administration • Patent and Trademark Office • Technology Administration • National Institute of Standards and Technology • National Technical Information Service • Office of Technology Policy