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Fluffeh writes:
"In June, President Barack Obama called for action against patent trolls. Today the White House held a short conference updating what has happened in the arena of patent policy since then and announced new initiatives going forward — including one to 'crowdsource' the review of patents.
Currently, getting a patent is a one-on-one proceeding between the applicant and the examiner. Two pilot programs that allowed the public to submit prior art were only applied to a tiny number of patents, and in the first program, all the patents were voluntarily submitted by the applicants. Applying such scrutiny to a few hundred patents, out of the hundreds of thousands issued each year, isn't any kind of long-term solution.
Unless the crowd-sourcing initiatives were to put major new burdens on applicants — which would be resisted — the fundamentals of patent examination aren't going to change. Patent examiners get an average of eighteen hours to review a patent. Most importantly, examiners effectively can't say 'no' to applicants. They can reject a particular application, but there's no limit to the number of amendments and re-drafts an applicant can submit."
(Score: 5, Informative) by moo kuh on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:47PM
At least the POTUS is willing to admit that the current US patent system has problems. I took a quick peak at what kind of requirements and pay grades patent examiners are at. Check out the below link if you are interested in the details, but pretty an examiner fresh out of undergrad with a hard science or engineering degree only starts at GS-5. GS-5 step 1 is only $31,628/year in most US localities. A GS-5 in the Washington DC area, which has a rather high cost of living compared to most of the US, starts at $34,415. Sure patent examiners with a few years experience and/or graduate school get a few pay grades higher, but even a GS-7 in the DC area is only making in the range of $42,000 - $55,000. Most private sector engineering and science jobs pay twice that in the US. I have included a few addresses for those that want to fact check me.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/exam.htm [uspto.gov]v e/salaries-wages/2014/general-schedule/ [opm.gov]
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-lea
http://www.glassdoor.com/ [glassdoor.com]
My point is, unless the USPTO is lucky enough to get people that really, really, want to be patent examiners (which I doubt, but could be wrong), they aren't going to attract top talent at those pay rates and with that type of work. Personally, I would much rather be the person (or employee that worked on the project) applying for the patent than examining it. The money is better, and I would get the satisfaction of knowing I invented something. Why would I make less than I can doing work that is relatively boring in my field? I think if the POTUS wants to do something about bogus patents, he should yell at congress until they come up with the money to pay a lot more than the typical engineers salary.
(Score: 1) by frojack on Sunday February 23 2014, @12:05AM
I'm not sure paying them more is the solution.
Typically with government employees, the more you pay them the less ACTUAL work you get out of them.
You want to be able to afford hundreds of them, not a few well paid prima donnas.
34K may be a tad low, but they all require only a bachelor's degree, until you get to the GS9s or GS11s.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheloniousToady on Sunday February 23 2014, @03:57AM
I'm no expert in this, but IIRC, many patent examiners want to be patent lawyers. Looks very good on a resume, kindda like an internship or perhaps even like a doctor's residency. If that's true, the low pay fits right in.