Application Filings and Examiner Production
UPR Applications Filed
400000 350000 300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0
FY 05 plan 375,080 (5.5% above FY 04) FY 05 actual 384,228 (8.1% above FY04) 2.6% over plan
9
Production
FY 04 UPR1 FAOM2 UPR Disposals3 UPR Production Units4 PCT Production Units5
1 “UPR” 2 “FAOM”
FY 05 Target 297,614 295,456 296,535 22,916
FY 05 297,287 279,345 288,316 15,147
288,315 287,188 287,752 16,882
= Utility, Plant, and Reissue Applications. = First Action on the Merits – first action count by an examiner after the filing of an application (does not include restrictions or other miscellaneous actions). 3 “Disposal” = An examiner allowance, abandonment, or disposals following a board decision. 4 “Production Unit” = First action count plus disposal count divided by 2. 5 “PCT” = Patent Cooperation Treaty. PCT applications are processed differently and tracked separately from US National stage applications. For FY 05, 15,147 PU’s is 35,389 processed applications.
10
PENDENCY
. . . vs the Backlog
First Action Pendency by Art Areas
High Pendency Art Areas
1640 – Immunology, Receptor/ Ligands, Cytokines, Recombinant Hormones, and Molecular Biology 1743 – Analytic Chemistry & Wave Energy 2123 – Simulation and Modeling, Emulation of Computer Components 2617 – Interactive Video Distribution 2836 – Control Circuits 3628 – Finance & Banking, Accounting 3731 – Surgery: Cutting, Clamping, Suturing
1
Pendency (months)
27.7 30.8 39.7 50.4 24.3 52.1 30.9
1
Low Pendency Art Areas
1620 – Heterocyclic Compounds and Uses 1752 – Radiation Imagery 2125 – Manufacturing Control Systems and Chemical/ Mechanical/Electrical Control 2651 – Dynamic Information Storage & Retrieval 2833 – Electrical Connectors 3612 – Land Vehicles 3723 – Tools & Metal Working
Pendency (months)
16.9 12.1 20.0 16.1 8.8 12.0 10.9
1
“Average 1st action pendency” is the average age from filing to first action for a newly filed application, completed during October-December 2005.
12
Inventory by Art Examples
High Inventory Art Areas 1614, 1615, and 1617 – Drugs, Bio-affecting and Body Treatment 1753 – Radiation Imagery 2127 – Computer Task Management 2611 – Interactive Video Distribution 2836 – Control Circuits 3620 – Business Methods 3731 and 3737 – Medical Instruments, Diagnostic Equipment Months of Inventory* 38-51 34 46 111 22 25-130 38-47 Low Inventory Art Areas 1620 – Organic Chemistry 1734 – Adhesive Bonding and Coating Apparatus 2125 – Manufacturing Control Systems and Chemical/ Mechanical/Electrical Control 2651, 2653 – Information Storage and Retrieval 2831 – Electrical Conductors 3651 – Conveying 3742 – Thermal and Combustion Technology Months of Inventory* 15 10 10 12 8 12 8
*The number of months it would take to reach a first action on the merits (e.g., an action addressing patentability issues) on a new application filed in
July 2005 at today’s production rate. Today’s production rate means that there are no changes in production due to hiring, attrition, changes to examination processing or examination efficiencies, and that applications are taken up in the order of filing in the given art unit/area. Of course, USPTO is taking aggressive steps to ensure changes that will significantly lower the inventory rates in high-inventory art areas.
13
TC Application Inventory
1600
New Applications1 9/30/2004 New Applications1 9/30/2005 Overall Pending Applications2 9/30/2004 Overall Pending Applications2 9/30/2005
1 2
1700
63,923 72,697 105,447
2100
71,778 76,529 102,440
2600
97,380 115,585 138,822
2800
77,651 94,425 137,458
3600
56,738 70,354 101,097
3700
65,005 83,225 108,039
Total*
508,878 586,580 809,323
Design
18,451 24,534 27,599
55,402 62,644 95,006
107,647
120,767
117,728
167,721
159,687
117,045
130,168
932,300
38,104
“New Application inventory” is the number of new applications designated or assigned to a technology center awaiting a first action.
“Overall Pending Application inventory” is the total number of applications designated or assigned to a technology center in an active status. Includes new applications; rejected awaiting response; amended; under appeal or interference; suspended; reexams and allowed applications awaiting grant publication.
*Total inventory includes applications not assigned to a particular TC, awaiting processing either pre- or post-examination.
14
Patent Quality
(Shared Responsibility)
Quality of Products – FY 05
Fiscal Year 2005 FY 04 Patent In-Process Examination Compliance Rate1* Patent Allowance Error Rate2* 1600 1700 2100 2600 2800 3600 3700 Design FY 05 FY 05
Target
82.0%
81.7%
82.9%
88.1%
84.7%
90.9%
84.4%
86.6%
94.3%
86.2%
84.0%
5.32%
4.88%
6.46%
3.56%
2.25%
4.43%
4.94%
6.43%
1.6%
4.55%
4.0%
*Compliance and error rates as measured by OPQA.
1Compliance
is the percent of office actions reviewed and found to be free of any in-process examination deficiency (an error that has significant adverse impact on patent prosecution). allowance error rate is the percent of allowed applications reviewed having at least one claim which is considered unpatentable on a basis for which a court would hold a patent invalid. “Allowance” occurs before a patent is issued, so these errors are caught before any patent is actually granted. 16
2Patent
Re-Work
Technology Centers Rework* Statistics
FY 2002 TC % FAOM Summary Rework 1600 36.4% 1700 25.2% 2100 23.9% 2600 24.8% 2800 19.1% 3600 17.7% 3700 22.2% FY 2003 % FAOM Rework 39.7% 26.9% 24.0% 24.2% 22.0% 21.2% 25.1% FY 2004 % FAOM Rework 40.3% 27.1% 24.6% 24.3% 24.9% 23.2% 24.0% FY 2005 % FAOM Rework 42.4% 28.0% 28.2% 25.4% 24.1% 28.5% 28.1%
UPR
23.2%
25.3%
26.1%
28.3%
18
* Rework first actions are those actions that are in a Continuing (CONs and CIPs), RCE, CPA or 129(a) applications (excludes Divisionals).
Hiring and Retention
Hires and Attritions
1600 FY 04 Hires FY 04 Attritions FY 05 BOY Examiner Staff FY 05 Hiring FY 05 Attrits FY 06 Hiring Goal FY 06 hires (1/25/06) FY05 Hires as a Percent of Examiner Staffing in the TC 75 30 417 101 42 75 30 1700 35 26 440 58 39 35 19 2100 115 58 563 225 93 256 75 2600 116 82 658 169 92 256 62 2800 31 58 742 184 54 178 40 3600 26 43 422 91 55 100 22 3700 45 39 439 131 50 100 21 Corps 443 336 3681 959 425 1000 269 Design 15 4 72 19 10 20 0
24%
13%
40%
26%
25%
22%
30%
26%
26%
20
Markush Practice
Markush Practice
1. A cell adhesion protein of formula (1), A-(B)-(C)-(D)n-E
or a pharmaceutically acceptable derivative thereof , wherein . . .
22
23
24
25
26
27
Production
We Can Not Hire Our Way Out !!!
Production
600,000
550,000
500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
2 9
200,000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Historic
Without Strategic Plan
1,000 Hires & Lower Attrition Rate
Plus Claims & Continuation Limits
Plus Patentability Reports
Contact Information
John Doll
Commissioner for Patents
e-mail: john.doll@uspto.gov
Phone: 571 272 8250
30
John Doll – Commissioner for Patents
February 1, 2006
Pendency Projections
Pendency Using FY 2005 Actual Filings at 8.1%
5 0
Pendency Using FY 2005 Actual Filings at 8.1%
5 1
Pendency Using FY 2005 Actual Filings at 8.1%
5 2
Pendency Using FY 2005 Actual Filings at 8.1%
5 3
Pendency Using FY 2005 Actual Filings at 8.1%
5 4
Stats and Stuff
Total Continuation Filing Rates
45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0
02 03 04 20 20 20 20 05
1 CPA/RCE
1 Con
2 or more CPA/RCE
2 or more Cons*
*Straight Continuations 37 CFR §1.53 (b)(1) – No Divisionals or CIPs – as of 1/17/06
56
Distribution of Independent Claims at Filing
50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 7~10 2~3 4~6 11~20 FY 2005
57
FY 2004
21+
1
0%
Distribution of Total Claims at Filing
40% 30% 20% 10% 21~25 26~30 31~40 41~50 51~60 61~100 1~10 11~20 101+ 0%
FY 2004
FY 2005
58
Total Claims at Filing and Issue
9,000,000
24
6,000,000
16
3,000,000
8
0
FY 1990
Claims Filed
0 FY 1999
Claims Issued
FY 2005
Average Claims Filed
59
Distribution of the Number of References Cited in Applications
3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0 None 1~3 4~5
Sampling done April-June 2005
60
31~40
21~30
6~10
11~20
>40