Peer to Patent

Open Government - Keeping It Professional

With President Obama’s open government initiative gaining exposure in mainstream media, an important question about feasibility of such a program has been posed in Saul Hansell’s piece in the New York Times Bits section, entitled “Can the Wonks Beat the Trolls on Government Sites?” 

The article mainly focuses the government’s ability to open up a public forum that would produce “useful” discussion.  One criticism of the President’s open government campaign is that it allows anyone to voice his or her opinion, be it tenuous or poignant, absurd or revolutionary.  However, as Mr. Hansell points out the White House is “hardly naïve in its foray into…the web.”  As he notes, Beth Simone Noveck, the deputy chief technology officer in the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the White House and creator of the New York Law School Peer-to-Patent project, is more than equipped to spearhead this initiative and the system upon which it relies on.  The goal for her is to shape the debate, create a system that guides an appropriate standard for policy debate and public input.  It is less about a pubic discussion board to rant and more about shaping a culture on the web that can facilitate public discourse on policy issues that this administration should face. In fact, Peer-to-Patent is cited as a prime example of the type of professional discourse that can occur or successful Open Government sites.

Last Minute Deluge Hits Peer-to-Patent

With the deadline for eligibility for applications to participate in Peer-to-Patent on June 15, the program has been hit with a deluge of last minute applications.  Yesterday the program received 24 new applications from the USPTO.  That number represents more than a third of the applications received by the program in its entire first year.  It has become clear that, with the assistance of the USPTO over the last six months in making applicants aware of the program, Peer-to-Patent has captured the attention of patent applicants.  Of course, with all of these new applications, which should start to appear on the Peer-to-Patent website over the next week, there will be a corresponding need for peer reviewers.  Time to get to work!

David Kappos Nominated to Lead USPTO

Today President Obama announced his nomination for Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, David Kappos.  David presently serves as Vice President and Assistant General for Intellectual Property at IBM.  In his role at IBM David was one of the early proponents of Peer-to-Patent and directed IBM in providing both financial and technical assistance in the development of the Peer-to-Patent website and platform.

To his colleagues David is known as a tireless worker and one of the brightest thinkers in the country in the area of intellectual property law.  He will bring years of experience and understanding to this new position as well as an eye for introducing positive innovation within the USPTO.

Second Year of Peer-to-Patent Pilot Ending

At the close of business on Monday, June 15, 2009, the USPTO will no longer be accepting new consents from applicants to include their applications in Peer-to-Patent.  Consents already filed covering applications published on or before June 15 will still be honored, and those applications will continue to be processed through Peer-to-Patent and will continue to receive priority for examination.  However, consents on file covering applications that will not publish until after June 15 will not be honored.  According to information provided by the USPTO, that means 30-40 applications for which the applicant has previously filed consent will not, in fact, participate.

New York Law School's Center for Patent Innovations will continue to process all active applications until they have all completed the normal peer review cycle.  Based on applications presently on hand or anticipated, we believe the peer review process will conclude on or about October 15, 2009.

The decision to discontinue the program was made by the USPTO on the heels of the recent recognition of Peer-to-Patent by the White House Open Government Initiative.  The USPTO has requested a period of time in which to evaluate the program before making a decision on whether and how to proceed further.  If you wish to let the USPTO know you value the program and would like it to continue, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

Peer-to-Patent Recognized by White House

Peer-to-Patent was recently identified by the White House Open Government Initiative as one of the innovations in Open Government.  Peer-to-Patent was included in the Innovations Gallery and is recognized for its contributions to the operations of the USPTO.  The USPTO also recognized the program with its own release entitled:  USPTO Participates in Obama Administration Open Government Initiative, stating:

"On his first full day in office, President Obama issued a memorandum on transparency and open government, calling for an unprecedented level of openness in government and recommendations for establishing a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. On May 21, the Administration launched the Open Government Initiative to solicit ideas and expertise from the public for developing open government policy.

As an example of public participation the President is talking about, the USPTO’s peer review pilot is showcased in the Innovation Gallery on the White House Web site. Here, the public can see examples of new ways in which Executive branch agencies are using transparency, participation and collaboration to achieve their missions.

The peer review pilot, launched in June 2007 in the computer related arts and expanded in 2008 to business methods, encourages the public to review volunteered published patent applications and submit technical references and comments on what they believe to be the best prior art to consider during the examination. The pilot is being conducted in cooperation with the Peer-to-Patent Project, organized by the New York Law School’s Institute for Information Law and Policy."

Article One Partners Recognized as Startup of the Year

Backlogged patents and bogged down legislation. Broad patents awarded to inventors who have no interest in making or using their innovation and costly litigation. These are all issues the patent world is facing today, for which reform may be the only answer. With no definitive answer in sight, Article One Partners set out to identify a solution. As a new company facing a tough economy, Article One had a daunting road ahead of them. However, their efforts did not go unnoticed as they were recently voted Start Up of the Year at the Silicon Valley Insider’s Startup 2009 conference.

"This was a tremendous honor for a company just over six-months old, and we'd like to thank the judges, sponsors, and conference attendees for taking the time to understand our crowdsourcing model for researching patent validity and sharing their own insights about the much-needed issue of patent reform”, said Cheryl Milone, CEO and founder of Article One Partners. “We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank our member Advisors from around the world. This is a passionate community that has already made a huge impact, discovering patent invalidity evidence in our Studies - ranging from Merck's Singulair drug, to yesterday's announcement relating to the Worlds.com patent litigation. The community is truly the heart of this Company."

Article One Partners utilizes community participation to actively apply their knowledge, research or network to find prior art relevant to issued patents in exchange for a potential $50,000 reward. In order to get this reward, participants must be the first to submit a primary prior art reference that forms the basis for a formal opinion of invalidity of the patents.  Article One recognizes that the solution to the prior art problem is found with community participation, a solution also identified by Peer-to-Patent.  Through its profit sharing program Article One also supports Peer-to-Patent by providing direct incentives to those who contribute prior art to Peer-to-Patent.  These programs are proof that crowdsourcing can be used to improve the patent system.