PTO Director Dave Kappos spoke at the Texas Global IP Leadership Summit in Austin today, along with Jim Pooley, Deputy Director General of WIPO, and SooWon Li, head of KIPO. Several interesting things were said. Here are two from Dave Kappos that caught my attention.
Toward a European Style Revocation Proceeding in the PTO
Director Kappos said that FR notices for rules packages relating to ex parte and inter partes reexamination were in the process of being finalized and could be published in a few days. (He was planning to read the final draft on the plane back to Washington.) The rule changes are being made to allow for a fast-track option for reexamination.
The goal, he indicated, was a process that would to get the time between the request and the final decision, including an appeal to the Board, short enough to tempt even judges in rocket-docket venues like the ED of Texas and the WD of Wisconsin to stay proceedings.
Lest you think that the PTO does not have the resources, Director Kappos made clear that he was going to be devoting more resources to the Central Reexamination Unit, and that they will be given all that time that they need to get it right.
He pointed out that this will allow “inappropriately enforced” patents (his term) to be challenged early and cost-effectively. He also said that patentees should like the proceedings as they will come out with “gold-plated” patents much more easily enforced.
I’m not sure what to think.
Yet Another Reason to Write Specifications Carefully
Director Kappos also said that there will be a new emphasis on examining applications for compliance with Section 112. He alluded to, in particular, ensuring better correspondence between the specification and claims in order to foster clarity and, thus, better examination. Although fields like chemistry already have well-defined lexicon, he singled out software as not having one. Training guidelines are being prepared. I expect lots of confused examiners and consternation and push-back from applicants.
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