The USPTO is holding a Patent Quality Summit on March 25-26 at their headquarters in Alexandria, VA.

The purpose of the summit is to discuss specific proposals with the goal of improving patent quality.  A Federal Register Notice of February 5, 2015 outlines three pillars of patent quality:  (1) Excellence in work products, (2) Excellence in measuring patent quality, and (3) Excellence in customer service.

New proposals regarding the first pillar (work products) include:

1. Applicant Requests for Prosecution Review of Selected Applications, wherein the applicant requests review by the Office of Patent Quality Assurance of an application that would benefit from such a review.
2. Automated Pre-Examination Search, wherein automated tools are used to generate a list of references prior to examination for the examiner’s consideration.
3. Clarify of Record, wherein the USPTO is seeking public suggestions and opinions on proposals to increase the clarity and completeness of official prosecution records.
4. New proposals regarding the third pillar (customer service) include:
5. A new proposal regarding the second pillar (patent quality) regards review of and improvements to Quality Metrics.   The USPTO is seeking input on improvements to be made to the current Quality Composite Metric used as well as methods for measuring the effectiveness of training provided to examiners.

1. Review of Current Compact Prosecution Model and the Effect on Quality, wherein the USPTO seeks comment regarding the effectiveness of the current compact prosecution model.  The USPTO is especially seeking alternatives to RCEs and appeals to the PTAB.
2. In-Person Interview Capability with All Examiners, wherein the USPTO seeks comment regarding expanding the locations available to interview examiners in-person.
3. More information can be located here.  Registration is open to the public and can be accessed here.  The summit can be attended in person or virtually.