Peer-to-Patent in BNA

BNA published an article today in which it noted the early positive results seen in conjunction with Peer-to-Patent.  Prior art and commentary submitted by members of public under the nine-month old Peer-to-Patent examination project have already weeded out five patent applications that might otherwise have been mistakenly allowed.

The article went on to quote project participants such as Steven Pearson (an IBM engineer) and Rob Cameron (a professor of computer science at Simon Fraser University in Canada), both of whom submitted prior art through Peer-to-Patent that was used in rejecting the claims of two patent applications that have undergone public scrutiny:

"I am confident these early results will help validate that this community approach can have a meaningful impact on the examination process and the quality of patents," Pearson said in a statement. Cameron said that the type of "open, mediated review process" developed under the Peer-to-Patent project "should become an integral part of best practice patent examination."

BNA is the largest independent publisher of information and analysis products for professionals in law, tax, business, and government.

The full article can be found here.