A Better Way to File Patent Applications

Imagine that you are about to draft a patent application for an invention related to an air filter pad to be inserted within an airflow chamber inside a vacuum cleaner.  There are numerous options in terms of how you might characterize and claim the innovation.  For example, you might focus primarily upon the context of vacuum cleaner, or a compact dust particle removing system, or even the components of the filter itself.  But what you may not be aware of is the full range of your options and the impact your choice will have on the probability and timeline for your allowance.

The fact of the matter is that there is tremendous variation within the USPTO from one group of patent examiners to another.  And that variation is not necessarily limited to art units of examiners drawn from distinct technology areas.  For example, patent applications that land in art unit 3681, which handles “transportation, construction, electronic commerce, agriculture, national security and license & review,” have about a 29.8% chance of maturing into a patent.  And even if you are lucky enough to be one of the 29.8%, it is likely to take over four years to grant.  But get your patent applications into art unit 3688, which the USPTO describes as handling the exact same subject matter as 3681, and your chances of allowance jump up to about 81%, with an average time to issuance of around 2 years.[1]   This differential can mean material differences in your overall allowance rates and time to grant.

It would certainly be nice to know why an application is assigned to one art unit over another.  The USPTO does publish a detailed Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) index, complete with examples and explanations for each code.[2]  However, there is little public information about the categories of technology handled by each individual art unit.  The USPTO’s technology center management page provides vague titles for groups of 5-10 art units.[3]  This is unfortunate because the art unit assignment arguably does have some impact upon whether the final examination outcome will be a granted patent or abandonment.

With the launch of the new LexisNexis PathWays^TM online information system, the product development team at LexisNexis® has taken on the task of characterizing the technology handled by every individual USPTO art unit.  The PathWays system is designed to help applicants predict which art units an application is likely to be filed before the application is even filed.  A unique semantic search algorithm compares user submitted text to weighted key words derived from an exhaustive collection of application documents clustered in each USPTO art unit.  For example:

The LexisNexis PathWays solution even provides a word cloud visualization of the “character” of technology handled by each art unit.  For example:

Patent professionals can also explore alternate drafting ideas in order to re-characterize an application and facilitate a path to a more appropriate art unit, by utilizing Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) and United States Patent Classification (USPC) searches included in the LexisNexis PathWays tool. The CPC/USPC searches can be used as an aid to narrow prior art searches.,

LexisNexis PathWays is complementary to a number of solutions comprising the LexisNexis suite of IP Solutions that enable patent professionals to work most efficiently across the patent workflow, including LexisNexis TotalPatent®, LexisNexis PatentAdvisor® and LexisNexis PatentOptimizer®.

Join us April 21 for a webinar to see LexisNexis PathWays in action and learn how it can help you improve the success of your patents. Click here to register.

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[1] Data obtained from LexisNexis PatentAdvisor®.

[2] The CPC index can be found here: http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/classification/cpc.html.

[3] http://www.uspto.gov/patent/contact-patents/patent-technology-centers-management