Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) draft plan sets priorities to strengthen the USPTO, drive innovation, and support economic growth.
The USPTO recently announced that its draft Strategic Plan for fiscal years (“FY”) 2014-2018 has been posted for public review and comment on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov/about/stratplan/index.jsp. The draft plan sets out the USPTO’s mission-focused strategic goals: to optimize patent quality and timeliness; to optimize trademark quality and timeliness; and to provide global and domestic leadership to improve intellectual property (“IP”) policy, protection, and enforcement worldwide.
To achieve these goals, the plan identifies the USPTO’s priorities, notably:
1. Working with stakeholders to refine long-term pendency goals that will meet the needs of both the office and the IP community.
2. Increasing efficiencies and examination capacity to align with optimal pendency goals, such as hiring/retaining a nationwide workforce.
3. Increasing international cooperation and work sharing, such as implementing Cooperative Patent Classification and the Global Dossier.
4. Continuing to enhance patent quality by evaluating and refining the measurement of quality data, and maximizing its usage to improve the quality of patent and trademark examination.
5. Ensuring optimal IT service delivery to both employees and stakeholders, for example, by stabilizing legacy systems.
6. Continuing and enhancing stakeholder and public outreach to promote the availability of educational resources for applicants and other users; e.g., the patent pro bono program and partnerships.
7. Maintaining the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s (“PTAB”) ability to provide timely and high quality decisions by defining optimal pendencies for PTAB proceedings, and ensuring consistency in PTAB decisions.
“We worked with stakeholders around the country to implement the America Invents Act in a way that was open, transparent, and responsive to your needs and concerns,” said Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the USPTO Teresa Stanek Rea. “In order for our nation to continue to lead and thrive in this global 21st century economy, we need that kind of dynamic, interactive private-public partnership to continue and that is why we would like your input on our 2014-2018 Strategic Plan.”
Written comments should be sent by email to: strategicplan@uspto.gov by November 25, 2013. Comments may also be submitted by mail addressed to: The USPTO Strategic Plan Coordinator, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450, marked to the attention of Bonita Royall. Although comments may be submitted by postal mail, submission by email to the above address is preferable. The comments will be available for public inspection on the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov.
A public forum on the USPTO 2014-2018 Strategic Plan will be held on November 5, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. ET in the USPTO’s Madison Auditorium located at 600 Dulany Street in Alexandria, Va. in Madison Auditorium. Those wishing to present oral comments at the forum should notify the office not later than November 1, 2013. No written comments or transcripts of the public forum will be made available.
The USPTO anticipates posting the final strategic plan for FY 2014-2018 on http://www.uspto.gov in February 2014.