An overdose of Diet-Coke drove me to analyze the USPTO<>Public interactions described in the 2017 Accountability Report. This presents an intriging glimpse into the ongoing regulatory capture of the USPTO by the Patent Industry. The interesting thing is that the USPTO appears to be blissfully unaware of the Regulatory Capture process. They think they are serving the public good, but all their input and interactions are influenced by a small subset of the public. Regulatory Capture is probably inevitable in this environment.
The key indication is the extensive use of the phrase “stakeholder” to represent the public interest. The reality is just the opposite. These stakeholders are those who buy into the game. The USPTO describes them in various places as: judges, prosecutors, patent and trademark examiners, patent and trademark attorneys, patent and trademark seekers, and IP office administrators. This ARE the people who interact with the USPTO. They are part of the US public. But, they are not the public, nor do they represent the public’s interests.
The reason why this is important is that the USPTO routinely sells parcels of the public interest. They sell monopolies. That is, they sell restrictions on the behavior of the entire US public. The rest of the public has a right to control this activity, but, our influence has been eliminated.
You can judge this process for yourself. The rest of this post is the all the descriptions of public interaction that I could find in the 2017 USPTO Accountability Report
We will continue to engage with the public to identify ways to streamline.. (pg 2)
..outreach included a public meeting to report on the comments received and to engage in a
robust discussion with stakeholders regarding the proposal. (pg 2)
U.S. stakeholders. Participants included officials with IP-related responsibilities
such as judges, prosecutors, patent and trademark examiners, and IP office administrators. (pg 3)
We are also committed to working with the IP community through a variety
of public engagements.. (pg 3)
This report demonstrates to Congress, the administration, and to the public the USPTO’s efforts to
promote transparency and accountability .. (pg 5)
Continue and Enhance Stakeholder and Public Outreach. (pg 17)
.. make adjustments to ensure that the USPTO fee schedule both supports sound public policy and
generates sufficient income to fund agency operations. (pg 18)
Failure in these areas could result in the agency’s inability to fulfill the
performance commitments it makes when setting fees, as well as loss of customer and
stakeholder confidence. (pg 18)
The USPTO has implemented a thoughtful and transparent fee-setting process to ensure Congress and
stakeholders will entrust the USPTO with fee-setting authority beyond the sunset date. (pg 18)
Our unmodified audit opinion provides independent assurance to the public that .. (pg 24)
..the USPTO shared fee adjustment proposals with its public advisory committees and the public. (pg 37)
The final fee schedule is responsive to stakeholder concerns as expressed during the public comment
period .. (pg 38)
After carefully considering stakeholder feedback, the USPTO has revised its plans, and an adjusted patent
fee setting package is expected to be finalized in early FY 2018. (pg 38)
Continue to improve relations with employees and stakeholders. (pg 43)
.. the commitments made to the fee-paying public. (pg 48)
The P3 was launched as part of the USPTO’s commitment to collaborate with stakeholders .. (pg 50)
.. survey data received from both participating office personnel and external stakeholders.. (pg 50)
.. expand Customer Partnership Meetings in an effort to provide an informal conduit for all
stakeholders to share insights and experiences.. (pg 51)
.. The increased interactivity between the USPTO in specific technology areas and external
stakeholders aims to enhance relationships and improve resolution (51)
Extensive internal and external stakeholder outreach will continue throughout the project.. (pg 53)
This should reduce costs and lead to greater predictability for the industrial design stakeholders. (pg 53)
.. through collaboration with internal and external stakeholders of the IP community. (pg 53)
in collaboration with stakeholders, the USPTO identified three areas of focus.. (pg 54)
Perception Indicators use both internal and external stakeholder surveys to solicit
information.. (pg 54)
The Stakeholder Training on Examination Practice and Procedure (STEPP) Program
was created based on public feedback and is a new and important part of USPTO’s
mission to deliver IP information and education to external stakeholders. Training
delivered through STEPP is designed to provide external stakeholders with a better
understanding .. (pg 55)
.. monthly webinar designed to provide information on patent quality topics and to gather
the public’s input. (pg 55)
OBJECTIVE 6: CONTINUE AND ENHANCE STAKEHOLDER AND PUBLIC OUTREACH
Expanding the USPTO’s regional presence enhances its commitment to reaching
stakeholders across the country. (pg 56)
PTAB E2E is a fully integrated IT system designed to meet the specific business needs of the PTAB
and its stakeholders. (pg 58)
..however, the time has come to transition to a new system to better serve the needs of the public. (pg 58)
The USPTO and its trademark stakeholders consider these to be optimal pendency rates. (pg 61)
.. the USPTO managed resources and staffing to maintain the timeliness that the agency’s stakeholders
have come to expect. (pg 61)
The USPTO has sustained optimal pendency (see Tables 8 and 9), which is an important indicator for
stakeholders when making business decisions. (pg 61)
The USPTO will continue to engage with the public to identify ways to streamline
processes.. (pg 63)
The USPTO continues to engage stakeholders in verifying trademark-quality findings; (pg 64)
..more reliable for USPTO employees, trademark applicants, trademark owners, and the public at large. (pg 65)
OBJECTIVE 4: CONTINUE AND ENHANCE STAKEHOLDER AND PUBLIC OUTREACH .. Roundtables were held in
conjunction with different stakeholder groups, including multiple bar associations such as the
American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the International Trademark
Association (INTA), in cities throughout the United States. (pg 65)
The event was designed to educate the public about the instrumental role that trademarks play .. (pg 66)
Engagement of Stakeholders for the Trademark Registry (pg 67)
.. as advocated by stakeholders, the USPTO is developing proposals for streamlined cancellation proceedings.. (pg 67)
The USPTO published a Request for Comments in the Federal Registerin May and held a public roundtable
in September .. (pg 67)
.. the USPTO co-hosted its first ever public roundtable on fraudulent solicitations with the
Trademark Public Advisory Committee. The objectives of the event were to educate the public.. (pg 68)
..continue to collaborate with other federal agencies to educate the public.. (pg 69)
Cooperation With Global Peers and Stakeholders (pg 69)
..met with various stakeholder groups in FY 2016 to explore options .. (pg 70)
.. outlining such a streamlined process and seeking stakeholder input.
Comments submitted in response were collected and discussed at a public meeting.. (pg 70)
.. welcomes comments on the utility of these measures from the TPAC and other stakeholders. (pg 70)
These updates facilitated the work of the Board’s paralegals and attorneys and also aided
stakeholders using these systems. (pg 70)
Committed to proactively engaging with the public regarding Board operations, the TTAB
continued its partnership with the PTAB in offering joint hearing programs at two law
schools, Suffolk University Law School in April 2017 and the University of Minnesota Law
School in September 2017. (pg 70)
Throughout FY 2017, USPTO officials provided policy formulation and guidance by
organizing numerous briefings for congressional staff and by conducting public meetings
to solicit stakeholder views on a range of IP policy matters.. (pg 74)
Report on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility In 2017, the USPTO published Patent Eligible
Subject Matter: Report on Views and Recommendations from the Public, synthesizing public comments
on an important question for innovators in a wide variety of industries: the appropriate boundaries
of patent-eligible subject matter. This was the product of roundtables held in November and December
2016, and a request for public comment in the wake of four Supreme Court decisions—Bilski, Mayo,
Myriad, and Alice—that significantly affected patent eligibility law. The useful
feedback that the USPTO received will help ensure that the views and concerns of the
innovation community are part of any future policy considerations. (pg 74)
This work included organizing a public meeting in December 2016
on developing the digital marketplace for copyrighted works, and continuing to engage
with stakeholders and monitor developments; organizing a public meeting in April 2017 on
consumer messaging in connection with online transactions involving copyrighted works;
and consulting with stakeholders on how to reach a better understanding .. (pg 75)
To raise public awareness of the issue, the USPTO, together with the TPAC, held a
roundtable on this topic.. (pg 76)
Throughout FY 2017, the USPTO released new and updated datasets in forms convenient
for public use and academic research on matters relevant to IP.. (pg 77)
Throughout FY 2017, the USPTO continued to engage Congress, other U.S. government
agencies, local elected officials, and stakeholders to discuss .. (pg 78)
The USPTO worked throughout FY 2017 to improve IP protection and enforcement for U.S.
stakeholders in China. (pg 79)
Other notable outreach efforts to U.S. stakeholders in FY 2017 included participation in .. (pg 80)
During its first 10 years, the IP5 has delivered a number of successful products and
services to its stakeholders, including Global Dossier, a public service that enables users to
monitor, via a single online source, how a family of patent applications is processing.. (pg 82)
This USPTO-led initiative, and the resulting studies, provided U.S. and other industrial
design stakeholders with a better understanding (pg 83)
..help improve IP systems in key countries and regions for the benefit of U.S. stakeholders. (pg 84)
..ensured that all the attachés continued to promote U.S. policies and U.S. stakeholder
interests overseas. (pg 85)
..worked to enhance interactions between attachés and stakeholders, including through roundtables
and meetings with rights-holder groups .. (pg 85)
.. meetings are attended by internal TMNG stakeholders .. (pg 90)
The USPTO has an enterprise data inventory that includes patent-, trademark-,
and policy-related data that are used by independent inventors, companies (from startups
to large corporations), law firms, strategic patent analytics companies (e.g., Bloomberg,
LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters, etc.), academia, other government agencies, foreign IP
offices (e.g., EPO, SIPO, KIPO, and JPO), and the public at large. (pg 91)
..improve the discoverability, accessibility, and usability of the USPTO’s valuable public
patent and trademark information. (pg 91)
..interfaces (APIs) to provide the public with better access to the USPTO’s data. (pg 91)
employee engagement plays in impacting the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission and
effectively and efficiently serve the public. (pg 91)
.. the regional offices held over 1,000 events, reaching over 80,000 independent inventors and IP
related stakeholders. (pg 100)
.. the Texas Regional Office presented Spanish and Mandarin Chinese programs to non-English
speaking stakeholders around Texas. (pg 100)
OBJECTIVE 4: SECURE SUSTAINABLE FUNDING TO DELIVER VALUE TO FEE-PAYING CUSTOMERS AND THE PUBLIC (pg 101)
The USPTO has received and considered public comments.. (pg 102)
The regional offices communicate policy through active engagement with stakeholders
across the country. They function as conduits for policy matters by participating in events
such as PTAB Bar Association events, National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP)
meetings, AIPLA meetings, and state bar association meetings. In addition, all of the
regional offices host policy-related events throughout the year, such as events for
World IP Day and Design Day, which bring together a broad range of stakeholders—
patent prosecutors, litigators, inventors, academics, and patent examiners—for a public
discussion on the state of IP law. These engagements provide IP stakeholders with a forum
to discuss and share their perspectives on the IP ecosystem. (pg 104)
Each regional office is equipped with several universal public workstations, which
enable members of the public to work with tools.. (pg 105)
After carefully considering stakeholder feedback, the USPTO has revised its plans .. (pg 107)
.. to ensure that the USPTO fee schedule both supports sound public policy and generates sufficient
income to fund agency operations and investments. (pg 107)
The final fee schedule is responsive to stakeholder concerns as expressed during the public
comment period.. (pg 161)
