USPTO hails ‘mission-critical’ IT in Strategic Plan
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has noted the importance of IT “as a mission-critical enabler” in its 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, months after suffering a system outage.
The plan, which was released yesterday, November 29, recognises the USPTO’s role in fostering innovation, competitiveness, and job growth in the US, through the quality and timely examination and review of trademarks and patents.
“Reliable and predictable IP rights” should be produced by the office, according to the strategy, as “our vision of leading the nation and the world in IP begins by achieving world-class patent and trademark systems to serve our country and the global economy”.
The USPTO’s plan centres on three overarching goals: optimising patent quality and timeliness; optimising trademark quality and timeliness; and providing domestic and global leadership, to improve IP policy, enforcement, and protection worldwide.
One aspect of the plan centres on modernising the office’s IT.
The USPTO suffered a setback in August, when patent filers were inconvenienced by the week-long unplanned outage of the patent systems.
“The complexity of our work necessitates that we rely on various IT systems that must be centralised for more efficient collection, retrieval, and sharing of data,” the plan explained.
Legacy and next-generation systems must enable USPTO employees to accomplish their work, and the office said it is “fine-tuning our business processes for greater efficiency” to enable this to occur.
“More robust, updated IT systems” will leave employees better equipped, the plan said.
The unveiling of the Strategic Plan follows a period of feedback and review. The period began in July and, after the draft plan was shared in August, the USPTO requested comments from stakeholders, customers, and the general public.
Andrei Iancu, director of the USPTO and under secretary of commerce for IP, said that the office is confident in its ability to attain the goals of the plan and will continue to engage with, and seek feedback from, stakeholders and employees.
“Together we celebrate innovation and entrepreneurship—we are very proud of the men and women who stand behind a well-balanced American IP system,” he said.
The USPTO has made a number of changes recently.
Last month, for example, the office confirmed that the Phillips claim construction rule will replace the “broadest reasonable interpretation” standard at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board to ensure “greater consistency and harmonisation with the federal courts and the International Trade Commission”.
Iancu recently suggested that the USPTO may revise its guidance on what constitutes an unpatentable abstract idea, in a further effort to increase clarity in the patent process.
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