By Donald Zuhn --
On Wednesday, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos announced a number of proposals
for changing the examiner "count system," the methodology for determining
the amount of time an examiner is given to complete a patent examination and the
amount of credit an examiner is given for completing various stages of an
examination. The count system,
which was created in the 1960's, was last revised in 1976.
The proposals announced by Director Kappos were developed by a task
force consisting of USPTO senior managers and leadership from the Patent Office
Professional Association (POPA) -- the examiner's union. Pursuant to a directive from Secretary
of Commerce Gary Locke to "adopt an ambitious agenda to address the
significant challenges at USPTO," Director Kappos stated that USPTO senior
management had "worked closely with labor representatives to propose a
long-overdue transformation of the count system." During his nomination hearing before
the Senate Judiciary Committee in July, Director Kappos testified that he
planned to raise morale by completely remaking the count system, which he said
"needs to be fixed" (see
"Senate Judiciary Committee Hears from Director Nominee"). During the hearing, Director Kappos stated
that "as I understand it, the examining corps hates the count system the
way it is," and "the applicant community . . . hates the count system
the way it is because it results in dysfunctional behavior." He also informed the Committee that
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke had specifically asked him to fix the count
system.
According to the USPTO release, the proposed changes are intended to:
• Set the foundation for long-term pendency improvements.
• Increase customer satisfaction by incentivizing quality work at the beginning of the examination process.
• Encourage examiners to identify allowable subject matter earlier in the examination process.
• Rebalance incentives both internally and externally to decrease rework.
• Increase examiner morale and reduce attrition.
The Office announcement also notes that the proposed changes are "intended
to be part of an iterative process of improvements to the count system,"
and that "[t]he task force will measure the effects of these changes and
gather internal and public feedback, and will meet on a regular basis to
monitor progress and consider additional changes."
• Shifting more credit to a First Action on the Merits (FAOM) to support compact prosecution.
• Reducing credit for Requests for Continued Examination (RCEs).
• Allotting more examination time per application (adding 2 hours per "Balanced Disposal").
Among the many details provided in the presentation is a comparison of the current count system with the system being proposed (see p. 6 of presentation; click on table to enlarge):
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