Peer-to-Patent Program

The USPTO has launched a new program that may reduce patent litigation. The Peer-to-Patent program uses a limited number of volunteer applicants who have applications in the computer arts field. The applications will be posted on a Peer-to-Patent website to be analyzed by members of the public. This will help determine whether an invention already exists or is obvious. For a discussion of this new program, see the USPTO's statement and a CNN article.

Be a Community Patent Reviewer!

The Peer to Patent Project, a community patent review pilot project, went live on Friday, June 15. This pilot project depends on community reviewers (yes, you can be one too!) to review patent applications in the area of computer architecture, software and information security. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published guidelines for the project and the New York Law School created the website for the project. Participants hope to show whether the collaborative submission and review of prior art documents will contribute to better patent examination results. The project is schedule to run for a year or until 250 applications have been selected and reviewed. Community reviewers will be asked to review and discuss submitted patent applications; locate and share prior art; comment on each other's prior art submissions; and help create up to 10 prior art references to be forwarded to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with the patent application.