Sorry sweetie, I worked in Crystal City (home of the USPTO) for over 15 years and I never met a patent examiner who could be classed as stupid.
Overworked, stressed out, hemmed in by antiquated methods and underpaid with little or no access to seminars to keep abreast of the latest information - yes. Stupid? Not by a long shot.
Besides, there is a system of public disclosure already in place concerning patents.
Every Tuesday, the USPTO publishes the "Official Gazette", one for patents and one for trademarks. The OG is the first place to find out about up and coming patents - and it's available to the public for a fee from your local US Government Printing Office. If you're near a Patent Depository Library, you should be able to go check out the OG at no cost to you.
The USPTO clung to its' antiquated methods up to about 1990 - and they worked well for about 200 years. There is no magic wand that'll convert well over five million patents and all other pertinent information to the 21st century overnight. As we used to say (misquoting Asimov), the USPTO, vaster than empires and more slow.
I worked for a private IP research firm in the US PTO for about 10 years. Prior to that, I worked a retail position in Crystal City (Arlington) VA - which is the physical location of the US PTO. I heard many stories that circulated about the fun and foibles of patent examiners. My favourite story is of a patent examiner who, in the rush to get things done, began to hide patent application files in his ceiling. One day, the dam burst. Papers and files everywhere. I have no idea if it's true (I doubt it is) but it's a statement of how rushed and stressed the examiners are that many people gave it credence.
The PTO is essentially a 19th-century operation. Much of the work is still done on paper. Even the physical location of all of the PTO offices hinder efficiency. The Dep't. of Commerce leases space as they need it - the USPTO encompasses offices and search rooms in at least six different buildings, with no rhyme or reason. Most patent information is off-site in one of three or four (or more!) different warehouses. You can wait up to a week for an older bit of information and that's if they can find the file. Just getting information from point A to point B can take a lot of time. The system persists because the most reliable information is still only available on paper. Ask anyone who uses the search rooms.
If you're a patent examiner (who doesn't hide applications in the ceiling) geologically slow computer systems and inefficient transportation of physical information are a fact of life. With the pressure from Congress and the public to speed up the process and more and more applications coming in, the examiners are in a no win situation. It's no wonder that patents of dubious merit are being awarded.
Where is this story coming from? Is it a reliable source? It hasn't appeared on any of the news wires or any of the other news sources available - as of five minutes ago. The story has all the earmarks of an urban legend - if the anal lacerations are said to be caused by a gerbil you've GOT to know that it's a hoax.
Pardon me for saying this, but isn't that just a tad racist? I hope that you're joking and I'm just being dense.
The people that are in this program are trying to change their lives - shouldn't we give everyone a chance without fear of ridicule? We all tend to pre-judge people (we're such a silly species) but isn't it about time we grew beyond that reactionary and atavistic response?
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Sorry sweetie, I worked in Crystal City (home of the USPTO) for over 15 years and I never met a patent examiner who could be classed as stupid.
Overworked, stressed out, hemmed in by antiquated methods and underpaid with little or no access to seminars to keep abreast of the latest information - yes. Stupid? Not by a long shot.
Besides, there is a system of public disclosure already in place concerning patents.
Every Tuesday, the USPTO publishes the "Official Gazette", one for patents and one for trademarks. The OG is the first place to find out about up and coming patents - and it's available to the public for a fee from your local US Government Printing Office. If you're near a Patent Depository Library, you should be able to go check out the OG at no cost to you.
The USPTO clung to its' antiquated methods up to about 1990 - and they worked well for about 200 years. There is no magic wand that'll convert well over five million patents and all other pertinent information to the 21st century overnight. As we used to say (misquoting Asimov), the USPTO, vaster than empires and more slow.
I worked for a private IP research firm in the US PTO for about 10 years. Prior to that, I worked a retail position in Crystal City (Arlington) VA - which is the physical location of the US PTO. I heard many stories that circulated about the fun and foibles of patent examiners. My favourite story is of a patent examiner who, in the rush to get things done, began to hide patent application files in his ceiling. One day, the dam burst. Papers and files everywhere. I have no idea if it's true (I doubt it is) but it's a statement of how rushed and stressed the examiners are that many people gave it credence.
The PTO is essentially a 19th-century operation. Much of the work is still done on paper. Even the physical location of all of the PTO offices hinder efficiency. The Dep't. of Commerce leases space as they need it - the USPTO encompasses offices and search rooms in at least six different buildings, with no rhyme or reason. Most patent information is off-site in one of three or four (or more!) different warehouses. You can wait up to a week for an older bit of information and that's if they can find the file. Just getting information from point A to point B can take a lot of time. The system persists because the most reliable information is still only available on paper. Ask anyone who uses the search rooms.
If you're a patent examiner (who doesn't hide applications in the ceiling) geologically slow computer systems and inefficient transportation of physical information are a fact of life. With the pressure from Congress and the public to speed up the process and more and more applications coming in, the examiners are in a no win situation. It's no wonder that patents of dubious merit are being awarded.
Where is this story coming from? Is it a reliable source? It hasn't appeared on any of the news wires or any of the other news sources available - as of five minutes ago. The story has all the earmarks of an urban legend - if the anal lacerations are said to be caused by a gerbil you've GOT to know that it's a hoax.
Pardon me for saying this, but isn't that just a tad racist? I hope that you're joking and I'm just being dense.
The people that are in this program are trying to change their lives - shouldn't we give everyone a chance without fear of ridicule? We all tend to pre-judge people (we're such a silly species) but isn't it about time we grew beyond that reactionary and atavistic response?