Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established the Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative (EPQI) in an effort to strengthen work products, processes, services, and measure patent quality at all stages of the patent process. 11 programs have been created.

Pre-examination and search enhancement programs

• Automated Pre-Examination Search Pilot - Providing relevant prior art through an automated pre-examination search to an examiner for review before the examiner begins examination and conducts a manual search in the application
• Scientific and Technical Information Center Awareness Campaign - Raising examiners' awareness of available search tools and resources to find better prior art in an application
• Clarity of Record Training: Improving Clarity and Reasoning in Office Actions Training - Educating examiners on the latest legal developments and effective ways to convey their positions and reasons to applicants for purposes of improving the clarity of the prosecution record

Prosecution enhancement programs

• Clarity of the Record Pilot - Identifying and developing best practices for examiners to enhance the clarity of the prosecution record
• Interview Specialist - Providing a point of contact to facilitate applicant-examiner interviews by serving as a resource on interview policy and assisting examiners and applicants with interview logistics
  
• Reevaluation of After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0, Pre-appeal, and Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement - Evaluating improvements to existing after-final programs to achieve compact prosecution and reduce the number of issues for appeal

Post-examination enhancement programs

• Design Patent Publication Quality - Improving the quality of images in published design patents
• Post Grant outcomes - Identifying prior art raised in post grant proceedings that is relevant to related cases undergoing prosecution and simplifying access to this prior art for examiners in the related cases

Evaluation enhancement programs

• Clarity and Correctness Data Capture (Master Review Form) - Developing and implementing a new agency-wide consistent and transparent process and form to capture minable data about the correctness and clarity of examiners’ work products
• Quality Metrics - Developing and implementing new measures for understanding, evaluating, and reporting the correctness and clarity of examiners’ work products
• Topic Submission for Case Studies - Using stakeholder suggestions to identify new topics for case studies

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Learn more here:

http://www.uspto.gov/patent/initiatives/enhanced-patent-quality-initiative-0