The National Association of Patent Practitioners NAPP USPTO

The National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP) USPTO DEVELOPMENTS James Dwyer Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations July 21, 2014 for Patent

Key Points of Interest U. S. Department of Commerce § The projected filing growth rates in FY 2014 and FY 2015 have been revised downward to 5% from 6% and 5. 5% respectively. 2

Key Points of Interest U. S. Department of Commerce § 10 and 20 month pendency goals will still be attained in FY 2019. § More Flexibility on Hiring Goals § Allows for more robust Quality Initiatives 3

Key Points of Interest U. S. Department of Commerce . § RCE backlog and filing data has been improved due in part by USPTO initiatives: - Docket Management (DM) - Count System changes - After Final Consideration Pilot 2. 0 - Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) pilot 4

Total Serialized and RCE Filings FY 2002 – FY 2014 (through July 9) U. S. Department of Commerce 444, 724 as of July 9, 2014. FY 2014 total UPR filing growth rate is projected to be 5% over FY 2013. The FY 2013 total UPR filing growth rate was 6. 2%. 5

Unexamined Patent Application Backlog FY 2009 – FY 2014 (through July 9) U. S. Department of Commerce AIA filing bubble (March 2013) CPC learning curve begins (October 2013) 619, 314 Unexamined Applications as of July 9, 2014. 6

Unexamined Patent Application Backlog and RCE Backlog FY 2010 – FY 2014 (through July 9) U. S. Department of Commerce AFCP (March 2012) QPIDS (May 2012) RCE Count Change (March 2013) RCE Audit (July 2013) 7

U. S. Department of Commerce Excess and Optimal Unexamined Patent Application Inventory FY 2009 – FY 2014 (through June) 616, 019 312, 224 303, 795 Excess Unexamined Applications as of June 2014. 8

RCE Backlog FY 2010 – FY 2014 (through July 9) U. S. Department of Commerce RCE CSI Changes (Nov 2009) AFCP (March 2012) QPIDS (May 2012) RCE Count Change (March 2013) RCE Audit (July 2013) 62, 937 as of July 9, 2014. 9

Distribution of RCE Backlog by Age as of July 9, 2014 Vs. October 1, 2013 U. S. Department of Commerce - DM changes prioritized examiners to move oldest cases - Count System changes incentivized examiners to work on a larger volume of RCEs 33, 671 RCEs (53. 5% of backlog) are over four months old as of July 9, 2014 59, 702 RCEs (73. 4% of backlog ) were over four months old as of October 1, 2013 10

FY 2014 RCE Filings by TC (through July 9) U. S. Department of Commerce 11

Forward Looking First Action Pendency FY 2009 – FY 2014 (through June) U. S. Department of Commerce Forward Looking First Action Pendency as of June 30, 2014: 15. 8 months Forward Looking Pendency represents an estimate of the average number of months it would take to complete a first Office action under current and projected workload and resource levels for an application filed at the given date. 12

First Action Pendency and Total Pendency FY 2009 – FY 2014 (through June) U. S. Department of Commerce Total Pendency as of June 30, 2014: 27. 8 months. First Action Pendency as of June 30, 2014: 19. 3 months. Average Total Pendency FY 2014 Target (2015 President’s Budget): 26. 7 months Average First Action Pendency FY 2014 Target (2015 President’s Budget): 17. 4 months CPC training/transition time and the change to the RCE count scheme will effect the decrease in First Action pendency in FY 2014 13

12 -Month Rolling Average Allowance Rate, by Quarter and 12 -Month Rolling Average Allowance Rate, U. S. Department of Commerce less RCE Abandonments by Quarter FY 2009 – FY 2014 Q 3 12 -Month Rolling Average Allowance Rate Less RCE Abandonments as of FY 2014 Q 3: 71. 1% 12 -Month Rolling Average Allowance Rate as of FY 2014 Q 3: 53. 5% 14

12 -Month Rolling Average UPR Examiner Attrition Rate Less Transfers and Retirees and Overall Attrition Rate FY 2001 – FY 2014 (through June) U. S. Department of Commerce 12 -Mth Rolling Average Attrition Rate Less Transfers and Retirees: 3. 63%. 12 -Mth Rolling Average Overall Attrition Rate: 4. 27%. Green line represents when 12 -month rolling average data 15

Quality Composite FY 2011 – FY 2014 Q 3 U. S. Department of Commerce Monitoring Continuous Improvement 100% 100. 0% 83% - 91% Percent of FY 15 Target Achieved 90. 0% 48% - 56% 65% - 73% 80. 0% 72. 7% 72. 4% 60. 0% 71. 9% Actual Results 50. 0% Target Range 40. 0% 30. 0% 20. 0% 30. 7% 10. 0% FY 11 FY 12 FY 13 FY 14 Q 3 FY 15 FY 2011 was baseline year. 16

Quality Composite U. S. Department of Commerce 17

Examiner Staffing Levels by Duty Station U. S. Department of Commerce 18

http: //www. uspto. gov/patents/init_event s/patapp-initiatives-timeline. jsp U. S. Department of Commerce

Track One Filings U. S. Department of Commerce (through July 9) 20

U. S. Department of Commerce Track One Office Time/Applicant Time – Track One Vs. Total Pendency (12 -month Rolling Average through June) No RCEs Included 21

Pending Track One Applications That Have Not Received a Final Disposition Through July 9 U. S. Department of Commerce (From Petition Grant) 86 Applications Over 12 Months 22

Track One Applications That Have Received a Final Disposition Through July 9 U. S. Department of Commerce (From Petition Grant) 260 Applications Over 12 Months 23

After Final Consideration Pilot 2. 0 (May 19, 2013 – June 28, 2014) U. S. Department of Commerce 24

Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) FY 2012 – FY 2014 (through July 8, 2014) U. S. Department of Commerce 25

Third Party Submissions (Sept 16, 2013 - July 4, 2014) U. S. Department of Commerce Third Party Submissions Proper 1, 450 Improper (including 219 resubmissions and 19 that were not 3 rd party) Not Yet Reviewed Total 453 17 1, 920 Total Documents Breakdown Patents Published US. Apps Foreign Reference NPL Total Documents 1, 774 1, 483 1, 095 2, 023 6, 375 26

Third Party Submissions (Sept 16, 2013 - July 4, 2014) U. S. Department of Commerce Third Party Submissions Proper Improper (including 219 resubmissions and 19 that were not 3 rd party) Not Yet Reviewed Total 1, 450 453 17 1, 920 27

Benefits of CPC U. S. Department of Commerce • CPC is used by more than 25 000 examiners in more than 45 Patent Offices around the world – and the user community is growing … • US, EPO, KR, CN collections classified into one classification system for search • USPTO has one official detailed classification system for efficient search (more detailed than IPC) 28

Benefits of PCT U. S. Department of Commerce • CPC based on IPC. USPTO on same footing as most of the world’s IPOs. • USPTO has an up-to-date, dynamic classification system. • Many users around the world using the same patent collection classified in a harmonized way for classification search. • MAJOR milestone reached in the CPC implementation and contribution towards harmonization efforts. 29

CPC Transitional Timeline for Patent Examiners Oct-Dec 2013 Sept-Oct 2013 Sept 2013 U. S. Department of Commerce June 2013 Nov 2013 – June 2014 May-Dec 2014 Jan. 2015

U. S. Department of Commerce More Robust Technical Training and Expertise Making it easier for experts from industry and academia to provide relevant technical training http: //www. uspto. gov/patents/pettp. js p