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US Patent Office To Hire 500 New Examiners

Posted by Hemos on from the get-them-in-there dept.

ddillman writes to us with a story from EEtimes that is reporting that the US Government, specifically the PTO, is hiring up to 500 electrical engineers to help assess the validity of new patent claims on technical gadgets. Good - and with the downturn in the high tech industry you can get them cheap.

4 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They need to change the revenue model. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uh what are you talking about? I work at the PTO and really don't understand your comment. Our money comes from applications and renewals, not from when a patent is approved.

    If there is a problem at the PTO it is too few examiners and a production quota system that values speed over quality.

  2. Re:That's all fine and good, but... by hamburger+lady · · Score: 2, Informative
    actually, its pretty damn easy to reject a claim, even if your evidence isn't that great.

    what can be hard is allowing an application. actually, this is what examiners want, because it lets them work on other applications, and you only get credit for the first (i.e. first rejection) and last (issue) actions. all the piddly arguing with the attorney is a waste of time that could be better used on another application. also, allowances are hella easy, it only takes about 15 minutes to whip one up.

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    Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
  3. Re:as cheap as ever by selan · · Score: 3, Informative
    Actually, the feds have a special pay scale for IT workers that is much closer to typical tech salaries.

    You can check it out at http://www.opm.gov/oca/01tables/SSR/index.htm.

  4. The writing on the wall.(tm) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I worked at the USPTO for about 8 months and I'll pass the following along, for I have seen the writing on the wall.(tm)

    Almost all the people they hire quit in the first year. This is extremely high turnover for a government job. So this would be a good overall indication of the quality of this job. People overwhelmingly prefer unemployment to working there.

    New hires are generally expected to fail. Therefore noone invests anything in them. And they fail, in many cases where they probably woundn't. Just as expected.

    Their employees steal computers, printers, and anything else that is not nailed down.

    Having USPTO on the resume makes people think you are lazy/inferior because you had a "government" job. Examining patents is probably the toughest job you would find anywhere. Working at the USPTO may help qualify you for work later on as a patent lawyer, but is actually a huge negative for a technical career.

    In addition you get these computer industry idiots who think you are responsible for the single dumbest things the patent office has ever one.