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PEER TO PATENT PILOT
PROGRAM
The USPTO is trying
something new and different. Until
now, third parties only had a very
limited opportunity to submit prior
art to the examiner during the first
2 months after publication of the
application. See Current
'Opposition' Practice
A new program
operated by the New York School of
Law will be allowed to collect up to
10 prior art references and submit
them to the examiner with comments
(limited to the relevance of the
prior art references). Other
restrictions apply. The patent
application must pertain to computer
art (initially Technical Group
2100). The prior art must be
received 18 weeks after the
application is first published.
The prior art references must be
submitted through the New York
School of Law. Only the agreed top
ten references may be submitted for
any single application.
The purpose of the
program is to ascertain whether
third parties can find more relevant
prior art than can the examiners.
The pilot program is
expected to last into 2008. The
applicant must consent to
participate in this program.
However a participant will
apparently move up the line for
examination after the peer selected
prior art is submitted. Dennis
Crouch has published that
GE, HP, Intel, IBM,
and Red Hat have volunteered
applications for the program.
June 17, 2007
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