I don't think hiring experts would solve the problem. Because there's such a backlog of patent applications, the PTO evaluates employee performance based solely on how many cases a patent examiner can churn out every biweek. Quality of work is not a factor. When I worked at the PTO, the "best" patent examiners were the ones that were producing the lowest quality work.
Also, the PTO would have a hard time getting experts to do that work. They have a hard enough time holding on to the employees they have now (mostly entry-level engineers like I was). If an entry-level engineer gets fed up with such tedious and unchallenging work, someone who's been in the field for years is not going to put up with it either. When I worked there it was always the guys with PhDs that were out of there the fastest.
I was going to mention Hedy Lamarr too. I remember learning about her in one of my first wireless communications classes, and I was impressed that spread spectrum had been invented not just by a woman, but by a beautiful woman with a thriving acting career. What an inspirational figure for women-- she's proof that we can be beautiful, talented, AND smart!
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I don't think hiring experts would solve the problem. Because there's such a backlog of patent applications, the PTO evaluates employee performance based solely on how many cases a patent examiner can churn out every biweek. Quality of work is not a factor. When I worked at the PTO, the "best" patent examiners were the ones that were producing the lowest quality work.
Also, the PTO would have a hard time getting experts to do that work. They have a hard enough time holding on to the employees they have now (mostly entry-level engineers like I was). If an entry-level engineer gets fed up with such tedious and unchallenging work, someone who's been in the field for years is not going to put up with it either. When I worked there it was always the guys with PhDs that were out of there the fastest.
I was going to mention Hedy Lamarr too. I remember learning about her in one of my first wireless communications classes, and I was impressed that spread spectrum had been invented not just by a woman, but by a beautiful woman with a thriving acting career. What an inspirational figure for women-- she's proof that we can be beautiful, talented, AND smart!