Patently Ridiculous

A series of more or less recent articles points to a troubling trend at the U.S. Patent Office. On January 5, 2009, PatentlyO reported a plummeting reversal rate at the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI). On January 8, 2009, PatentlyO reported a soaring appeal rate at the BPAI. The BPAI is the review board that reviews examiner rejections of patent application claims. Add to this state of affairs the troubling statistics, again reported at PatentlyO, showing a long wait time before the Examiner even gets to an office action. Similarly, the significant lag at the BPAI to even reach a decision on the merits, averaging 542 days (1 2/3 years), causes concern.

What does this mean? One conclusion is that there is a general belief that there are too many questionable Examiner rejections and that the only way to get a fair review is to appeal to the BPAI--hence, the soaring appeals. But because appeals are now sought more frequently, instead of after serious consideration, more questionable appeals are being filed--hence the plummeting reversal rate. And in both scenarios, it will be a long time before a decision because of the double lag times imposed upon Applicants by the Patent Office. The dedicated IP entrepreneur should increasingly expect to be "patent pending" for quite some time.