Continuing Patent Applications and Performance of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office - Extended

Abstract

This second study sought to determine the impact of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, established in 1982, on examination performace of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The study utilized data for the USPTO's fiscal years 1980 - 2000 provided by the USPTO pursuant to Freedom of Information Act requests in conjunction with USPTO Annual Report data for the same years. The study found that examination performance of the USPTO declined following the advent of the Federal Circuit in 1982. Corrcted for continuing applications Allowance Percentages at the USPTO rose from 69% in 1984 to 95% in 2000. Grant Rates at the USPTO, corrected for continuation and continuation in part applicaitons, rose from 73% in 1983 to 98% in 2000. The study also found that the number and share of continuing applications increased over the same period from 15,598 in 1980 (15%) to 80,597 (28%) in 2000. It was not possible to determine with certainty whether the decline in USPTO examination performance was a response to the lowered and less certain standards for patentability promulgated by the Federal Circuit or a consequence of the increase in continuing patent applications, or a combination of the two. Examination performance at the USPTO continued to trail that of the European and Japanese Patent Offices. The policy questions raised in our first paper remained valid and unanswered.

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