Federal Drive

Drew Hirshfeld: PTO rolls out test initiative for rejected applicants

For the Patent and Trademark Office, the quality of the patents it issues have become a front and center concern. As part of the its quality improvement program...

Tom Temin@tteminWFED

August 10, 2016 12:28 pm

< a min read

Drew Hirshfeld, commissioner for patents, USPTO

For the Patent and Trademark Office, the quality of the patents it issues have become a front and center concern. As part of the its quality improvement program, PTO just launched a test initiative to give rejected patent applicants a chance to talk directly to the examiner. Drew Hirshfeld, the PTO's commissioner for patents, tells Federal Drive with Tom Temin how the post-prosecution pilot program works.