PTO Asks if More Time Is Needed for Patent Examinations

The Patent and Trademark Office wants the patent community to weigh in on whether it should increase the time examiners spend reviewing patent applications.

A Federal Register notice published Oct. 25 said a lot has changed since the last time the agency looked at the average number of expected review hours. Most recently, the office has initiated an effort to improve patent quality, arguably increasing demands on examiner research and analysis. But the notice also suggests that if higher quality means more time, application costs may go up and final decisions on applications may take longer than they do now. Read more : http://www.bna.com/pto-asks-time-n57982079253/