In a notice published in the Federal Register on December 21, 2015 (80 Fed. Reg. 79277), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office invites stakeholders to submit patent quality-related topics that they believe should be the subject of a case study as part of a new Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative pilot program.  In the notice, the Office explains that it regularly performs case studies to investigate specific quality-related issues as well as review individual examiner work products.  Such case studies allow the USPTO to investigate how a particular issue is being treated or addressed across hundreds or thousands of applications, and where appropriate, to take action to remediate quality issues or to formulate best practices to further enhance quality.

According to the Office's Federal Register notice, case study topics submitted under the new pilot program should be more than mere statements of an issue or problem encountered by the submitter, but should propose a specific correlation or trend for study, and where possible, suggest a methodology for its investigation.  The Office notes that a helpful submission should also explain how the results of a given case study could be used to improve patent quality.

The notice lists five restrictions on topic submissions: (1) topics must be presented in separate submissions to ensure consideration, (2) submissions should be titled to reflect the topic being submitted, (3) submissions cannot contain information associated with any particular patent application or patent, any particular examiner, or any particular art unit, (4) topics should focus on patent quality issues, and (5) submissions should concisely explain the nature and purpose of the proposed case study.  Results of case studies conducted as a result of the pilot program will be used by the Office to improve its understanding of the quality of its work products and, where appropriate, to take action to remediate quality issues or to formulate best practices to further enhance quality.  The notice concludes with an example of a topic submission regarding the impact of pre-first action interviews on the quality of resulting patent prosecution.

Written topic submissions must be received by the Office on or before February 12, 2016 to be considered.  Submissions can be sent by e-mail to TopicSubmissionForCaseStudies@ uspto.gov; by regular mail addressed to:  Mail Stop Comments Patents, Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, Virginia 22313–1450, marked to the attention of Michael Cygan, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy; or via the Federal eRulemaking Portal.  The Office requests that submissions also include the following information: (1) the name and affiliation of the individual responding; and (2) an indication of whether the submission being offered represents the views of the respondent's organization or are the respondent's personal views.