A reasonable patent system administration by a patent-experienced PTO leadership could restore the system to a position of global preeminence and more importantly safeguard the rights of inventors, both individual, startup and major corporate, to continue global innovation leadership.

Absolutely, positively necessary to reach this goal is the election of a President knowledgeable about the importance of patents who will both appoint a patent savvy Director but also fill the numerous Federal Circuit openings coming in the next four years with strong appointments. Now, before the election season progresses much further, is the time to educate all aspirants in both parties to make them aware of the importance of patents. Waiting until November will be much too late to approach a President-elect who will then be likely to follow the pattern of recent times, treating appointments to both the PTO and the Federal Circuit as fungible political plums.

Tafas v. Dudas Sham Right to Petition for Further Continuations

Nothing better illustrates how far off the track the system has come than the ongoing Tafas v. Dudas litigation now pending in the Eastern District of Virginia. As one example, the PTO implies in its recent pleading that its two continuation rule is reasonable, noting that further continuing applications may be granted with a petition. What the PTO doesn’t say is that there is absolutely no assurance that a petition will be decided in a timely manner, i.e., the petition is likely to be denied after the applicant’s deadline for taking action which would result in an abandonment of the patent application and hence forfeiture of all rights.

It’s time to have the PTO, the Federal Circuit and the patent community on the same page, all working toward a common objective of an improved system. Patent experience and knowledge are critical conditions precedent to optimum working of the system. So much depends on the appointments made by the next President of the United States, whichever party wins the election.