By Donald Zuhn —

The USPTO has announced that it is starting a pilot program to determine whether the submission of documents and comments by the public (i.e.,
"collaborative review") might be useful to examiners as a way of
locating prior art that might not otherwise be located by the Patent
Office during the examination process.  The collaborative review pilot
will be conducted on a non-Patent Office peer-to-patent website developed by the Community Patent Review Project (CPRP) of New York Law
School’s Institute for Information Law and Policy.  Applications
involved in the pilot program will be analyzed by members of the
public, who will determine up to ten (10) documents for submission to the
Patent Office under a waiver of 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.99 and 1.291.  The
Institute for Information Law and Policy, and not the Patent Office,
will be responsible for managing the peer-to-patent website and public
review of participating applications.

The pilot, which will begin on June 15, 2007 and end on June 16,
2008, will be limited to volunteer applicants who file applications in
the computer arts (Technology Center 2100), and will be further limited
to 250 participating applications.  Thus, members of the public itching
for the chance to submit prior art and comments regarding biotech and
pharma applications will have to patiently await the outcome of the
collaborative review pilot.

For additional information regarding the pilot program, please see:

• The Peer-to-Patent Project: Community Patent Review

Note: The program reminds this author of the now-defunct BountyQuest
website, which served to connect those wishing to invalidate patents
with "bounty hunters," who could earn at least $10,000 by locating
invalidating prior art.