TeamPatent

David Kappos, the new USPTO director, is a strong proponent of technology for evaluating patent applications. He specifically calls for automated tools that ensure terms used in the claims have also been used and defined in the specification and that elements used in the drawings have been described and explained in the specification. We note that TeamPatent provides exactly this functionality. In this interview on May 8, 2009, he describes how PQU benefits applicants:

“Patent Quality Index (PQI): By quality, I mean whether the prior art has been cited and applied, whether terms used in the claims have also been used and defined in the specification, have elements used in the drawings have been described and explained in the specification…What you’d think of as a patent that’s clear and comprehensible…those are the basic parameters.

How does PQI help applicants? This is a statistically-based engine that will evaluate in an automated fashion a patent application which is either ready to be filed or has been filed and provides a numerical score and a basis for the numerical score….in other words, an explanation of what was found to be problematic in the patent application. The way I’d be ready to use this at IBM…is to run each application through that tool and evaluate the results. If there are terms that are being used in the claims which are not used or defined anywhere in the specification or drawings, we’re going to take a look at those terms and make sure we add a glossary or somehow define them appropriately. I’m going to use that as an applicant to improve the applications I’m filing with examiners, hopefully cutting down on rate of objections and rejections, enabling examiners to get into the applications more quickly, and hopefully give me better objections and rejections, and hopefully getting me to grant more quickly. As an applicant, I see a lot of upside to have a tool like this; an automated way to make sure I have all the right stuff in the applications I’m filing and they’re going to be ready to be examined and granted as patents.”

- David Kappos, USPTO Director
“IP Outlook in the Reform Era”, Webinar with Jon Dudas