By Donald Zuhn —

At last month's Patent
Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) meeting, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
provided a progress update on the RCE Outreach program that was initiated last
December with the Office's request for comments on RCE practice (see "USPTO Seeks Public Feedback on
RCE Practice").  The Office subsequently extended the deadline
in February (see "USPTO Extends
Comments Deadline, Will Hold Roundtables on RCE Practice").  While the RCE backlog numbered more than
103,000 at the time the deadline was extended, the backlog has now dropped to just
over 98,000 (see Patent Dashboard).

In the Office's PPAC
presentation,
which was given by the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations, Andrew Faile,
and the Director of the Central Reexamination Unit, Remy Yucel, the Office
indicated that more than 1,100 comments had been received via the RCE Outreach
program.  In reviewing those comments,
the Office noted that several themes emerged.

The first theme concerned
the need for greater educational outreach, with the Office pointing to a
general lack of awareness and understanding of existing initiatives for
reducing the need for future RCE filings. 
The Office suggested that a sustained awareness of all available options
may obviate the need to file some RCEs.

The second theme concerned
IDS consideration, with the Office indicating that the need to have an IDS
considered post-allowance drives the filing of a significant number of RCEs.  The Office's presentation notes that the Quick
Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) Pilot Program provides relief in
certain instances (see "USPTO
Announces Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) Pilot Program").  Because the QPIDS program only addresses references from a foreign filing, the Office noted that the approach
could be expanded to allow for certification under 37 C.F.R. 1.97(e) for
information from a domestic filing.

The third theme concerned
training, with commenters pointing to issues with examination quality and
supervisory involvement.  The Office
noted that a potential approach for addressing this issue would be to provide
advanced training for supervisors and examiners regarding after final practice
and compact prosecution, how to effectively review a case, and how to better
identify and relate allowable subject matter.

The fourth theme concerned
prosecution flexibility, with the Office noting that the prosecution timeline
may not provide enough time, in some cases, to clarify issues before final
status is reached.  The Office suggested
that more opportunities for interaction between the examiner and applicant's
representative could lead to a reduction in RCE filings.  In addition, the Office proposed the possibility of providing a PCT-style
search report before the first action to help applicants determine the claim
set to pursue during examination.