Knowing an examiner’s allowance rate is one of the best indicators of how difficult a patent prosecution will be. Understanding how an examiner has performed in the past allows patent professionals to manage client expectations and structure a prosecution strategy that maximizes an application’s likelihood of allowance.

An Overview of Patent Prosecution Trends at the USPTO Since the Year 2000

Since the year 2000, there have been major shifts in law, policy, and the technological landscape that have had profound impacts on patent prosecution practice at the USPTO. Although we often focus our analytics on small corners of the USPTO, such as individual industries, art unit groups, and practice entities, we...

Over the past year, we have published articles covering a wide range of topics, from handling Alice rejections to a study of the ATF industries to the Juristat Top 100. In each of them, we have tried to lift the curtain on the inner workings of the USPTO and various industry players in order to give you, our readers, a more informed outlook on the practice of patent prosecution. Of course,...

When we think about the technologies that have changed the face of the world and built the modern era, it is impossible to forget or ignore the role of the automotive industry. The automotive industry and the broader sector that it supports defined more than two generations of economic prosperity and mobility in the United States. The automobile in many ways marked the maturity of the...

Overcoming rejections is a regular part of a patent prosecutor’s practice. Broadly speaking, there are three main ways to try and overcome an examiner’s rejection: appeal, request for continuing examination (RCE), and interview with the examiner. We have previously looked at how appeals have affected application allowance since 2000, and look now at interviews and RCEs.

Patent professionals are increasingly using data analytics to streamline the pathway from initial filing to notice of allowance. Platforms like Juristat not only help ground strategic decision making prior to and during prosecution, but can also inform strategic decisions that guide business development for firms and counsel selection for patent assignees.

Juristat Search Now in Public Beta

We're excited to announce that Juristat's new search feature is now in Public Beta. Many of you helped us with valuable feedback in our silent Beta release, so thank you for all your feedback, patience, and support!

One of the biggest questions every client wants to know is “how long will patent prosecution take?” A corollary to that question is “how much will it cost?” The most honest answer is that every prosecution is different and each application involves its own unique set of circumstances. However, one thing is certain--every office action and response thereto extends an application’s prosecution...

Rejections are a fact of life for most patent prosecution professionals, and so is overcoming  them. Each response to a rejection represents a considerable investment of time and money, and prosecution professionals need to know which approach is the most likely to succeed.

In July of 2016, we published an article titled “The Most Difficult Examiners at the USPTO,” in which we identified the top 10 patent examiners across all art units whose allowance rates were the lowest. For most patent prosecutors, their examiner’s allowance rate is the clearest indicator of the overall difficulty of prosecuting a patent with that examiner, since a low allowance rate means that...