Evaluation of Patent Examination Pilot Programs

Authors

Jarad Thomas Kukla, William T. Proia

Sponsor

United States Patent and Trademark Office

Advisors

Creighton R. Peet, Kaveh Pahlavan

Term

October – December 2008

Project Outcomes

Final Report

Abstract

To properly evaluate two pilot programs developed by the USPTO to expedite the patent application examination process, the team obtained feedback from supervisors of the two pilot programs as well as quantitative and qualitative data on timeliness, quality management and office processes involved. These were compared to that of the standard examination process in order to give the USPTO useful feedback on whether or not the pilot programs are ready to be applied on a larger scale.