Intellectual property, Patent Office should strengthen search capabilities and better monitor examiner's work : report to the Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.

Format:

Book

Government document

Author/Creator:

United States. Government Accountability Office, author.

Contributor:

United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary, sponsoring body.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Patent and Trademark Office--Personnel management--Evaluation.

United States.

United States. Patent and Trademark Office.

Patents--United States--Evaluation.

Patents.

Patent practice--United States--Evaluation.

Patent practice.

Patents--Research--United States.

Patents--Research.

Personnel management--Evaluation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (iii, 85 pages) : color illustrations

Other Title:

Patent Office should strengthen search capabilities and better monitor examiner's work

Place of Publication:

[Washington, D.C.] : United States Government Accountability Office, 2016.

Summary:

USPTO examines patent applications to ensure that inventions are, among other requirements, novel and not obvious. USPTO patent examiners accomplish this by comparing applications to "prior art", existing patents and applications in the United States and abroad, and nonpatent literature, such as scientific articles. Thorough prior art searches help ensure the validity of granted patents. GAO was asked to identify ways to improve patent quality through use of the best available prior art. This report (1) describes the challenges examiners face in identifying relevant prior art, (2) describes how selected foreign patent offices have addressed challenges in identifying relevant prior art, and (3) assesses the extent to which USPTO has taken steps to address challenges in identifying relevant prior art. GAO surveyed a generalizable stratified random sample of USPTO examiners with an 80 percent response rate; interviewed experts active in the field, including patent holders, attorneys, and academics; interviewed officials from USPTO and similarly sized foreign patent offices, and other knowledgeable stakeholders; and reviewed USPTO documents and relevant laws. GAO is making seven recommendations, among them, that USPTO develop a strategy to identify key sources of nonpatent literature, establish goals and indicators for prior art search quality, and collect sufficient information to assess prior art search quality.

Notes:

Title from title screen (viewed on July 21, 2016).

"GAO-16-479."

"June 2016"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

Online resource; title from PDF cover page (GAO, viewed July 23, 2016).

OCLC:

953918296