In a bizarre move to deal with the growing mound of patents awaiting examination, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed a rule that Applicant submit an examination support document for applications including more than 10 claims.
The proposal requires that the Applicant makes a statement that a preexamination search was conducted, identifying the classes and sub-classes searched, or the boolean search string where a keyword search was performed.
The applicant is also expected to provide an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) for each claim to be examined, a detailed explanation of how the claims are patentable over the prior art cited and a statement of utility.
Full details of the proposed change in examination practice are to be found in the Federal Register, Vol. 71, No. 1, published January 3, 2006. Written comments may be sent to the USPTO by May 3, 2006.
Any move designed to speed up examination and to raise standards is to be encouraged. However, the USPTO has been getting lazy of late, and the standards of their examination full short of that provided by the European Patent Office.
How will this affect Israeli inventors?
Under Section 17(c) of the Israel Patent Law of 1967, the IPO will grant patents automatically if the claims much those fo a recognized, thorough patent issuing authority abroad. The Israel Commissioner of Patents has recently ruled to automatically grant patents that have identical claims to those that issued in any of a number of countries, including the US. Perhaps this development will result in this practice being reconsidered.
