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United States Patent and Trademark Office
Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2003
Management Discussion and Analysis

Table of Contents |  Management |  Financial |  Supplemental |  Auditor |  IG |  Other

Performance Goals and Results

USPTO Strategic Plan

Photo showing Under Secretary Rogan confering with Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property.

Under Secretary Rogan confers with Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith prior to testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) requires that agencies plan and measure the performance of their programs. In carrying out GPRA, the USPTO prepares a Strategic Plan, an Annual Performance Plan, and an Annual Performance Report. The USPTO began FY 2003 guided by the Strategic Plan that was developed in FY 1994 and updated in FY 1999, which includes the period FY 1999 through 2004. While the mission, goals, and strategies have served us well, the environment in which the IP system operates worldwide has changed dramatically. There are an estimated 11.9 million pending patent applications in the world’s examination pipeline. Technology has become increasingly complex, and customer demands for higher quality products and services have escalated. This dynamic, along with Congressional concerns about the USPTO’s ability to continue to operate under a traditional business model, led to the development of the 21st Century Strategic Plan. To deal with these concerns, the USPTO developed a response to the environmental challenges facing the USPTO and to address the issues raised by the Congress and our stakeholders. The 21st Century Strategic Plan is a far-reaching and aggressive plan designed to transform the USPTO into an organization that is responsive to the global economy. After implementation of the plan, market forces will drive our business model, geography and time will be irrelevant when doing business with the USPTO, products and services will be tailored to customer needs, and examination will be our core expertise. The plan is centered around three long-term cross-cutting strategic goals:

  • Agility – Address the 21st Century economy by becoming a more agile organization. We will create a flexible organization whose leadership and work processes can handle the increasing expectations of our markets, the growing complexity and volume of our work, and the globalization that characterizes the 21st Century economy. We will work with our partners, both bi-laterally and multi-laterally, to create a stronger, better-coordinated, and more streamlined framework for protecting IP around the world. We will transform the USPTO workplace by radically reducing labor-intensive paper processing.
  • Capability – Enhance quality through workforce and process improvements. We will make patent and trademark quality our highest priority by emphasizing quality in every component of the plan. Through timely issuance of high-quality patents and trademarks, we will respond to market forces by promoting advances in technology, expanding business opportunities, and creating jobs.
  • Productivity – Accelerate processing times through focused examination. We will reduce patent and trademark pendency, substantially cut the size of our backlog of work, and recover our investments in people, processes, and technology.

The 21st Century Strategic Plan was made public in June 2002. At the same time, the USPTO proposed a reallocation of FY 2003 resources to fund the 21st Century Strategic Plan and the USPTO put forth proposed legislation to restructure the USPTO’s fee schedule to generate additional fee income needed to make critical investments in support of the 21st Century Strategic Plan. Although the USPTO was applauded for putting forth an innovative and comprehensive plan, a number of key components - many related to the USPTO’s fee structure - generated controversy. The USPTO has listened to stakeholders and applicants and is consulting with the Patent and Trademark Public Advisory Committees to identify alternative actions that would be amenable to applicants and the public while addressing the challenges the USPTO is facing in the 21st century.

In FY 2003, the USPTO continued adopting the goals and objectives put forth in the plan, to the extent they were consistent with Congressional intent and supported by our stakeholders and applicants. The 21st Century Strategic Plan was reissued in February 2003 and received support from organizations throughout the patent community. The 21st Century Strategic Plan can be found on the USPTO web site: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/strat21/index.htm

Photo showing Under Secretary Rogan welcoming a group of newly hired patent examiners, part of the 308 examiners hired in FY 2003.

Under Secretary Rogan welcomes a group of newly hired patent examiners, part of the 308 examiners hired in FY 2003.

Performance Data Verification and Validation

Photo showing Jo-Anne Barnard, Chief Financial Officer 
 and Chief Administrative Officer, Nick Godici, Commissioner of Patents, and Michelle Picard, Director, Office of Finance, (seated left to right) posing with members of the Annual Performance Review team.  The team received the “Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting Award,” from the Association of Government Accountants for the USPTO 
Fiscal Year 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.

Jo-Anne Barnard, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, Nick Godici, Commissioner of Patents, and Michelle Picard, Director, Office of Finance, (seated left to right) pose with members of the Annual Performance Review team. The team received the “Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting Award,” from the Association of Government Accountants for the USPTO Fiscal Year 2002 Performance and Accountability Report.

In accordance with GPRA requirements, the USPTO is committed to making certain that performance information reported is reliable, accurate, and consistent. To ensure the highest quality data, the USPTO has developed a strategy to validate and verify the quality of the USPTO’s performance information. The USPTO has undertaken the following:

  • Quality reviews – USPTO conducts ongoing reviews on the quality of patent and trademark examination. The focus of the review for patent applications is threefold: (1) identify patentability errors, (2) assess adequacy of the field of search and proper classification, and (3) assess proper examination practice and procedures. For trademark applications, the review includes four areas: (1) substantive statutory criteria for registrability, (2) search for confusingly similar marks, (3) proper examination practice and procedure, and (4) proper application of judicial precedents. The information from these reviews helps our business units identify necessary training with the goal of enhancing overall product quality and improving the consistency of examination. Analysis of review data is reported to patent and trademark management. These reports serve as a tool for educating examiners and examining attorneys. In addition to reporting specific errors, the analysis identifies recurring problems and trends.
  • Certification – The Patent and Trademark Organizations are responsible for providing performance data. The USPTO holds program managers accountable for ensuring data accuracy, and that the performance measurement source is complete and reliable.

The OIG also contributes to the USPTO’s efforts to assure audit and evaluation coordination and coverage of USPTO goals. The OIG conducted the following types of audits and evaluations:

  • Program evaluations – Program evaluations are cyclical in nature. While no program evaluations were completed in FY 2003, one was completed in FY 2002. The OIG reviewed the USPTO’s performance measures included in the Commerce’s Annual Performance Plan (Minor Improvements Needed in Reporting Performance Results, FSD-14429/March 2002). The purpose of the review was to validate the measures and the data collection tools and methods. The results of the audit showed that management controls were in place and operating effectively regarding the collection, validation, and reporting of performance measures. In addition, the report stated that the USPTO was committed to developing and producing quality performance measures. Several minor recommendations were reported and have subsequently been implemented by the USPTO in FY 2003. This report can be found at: www.oig.doc.gov/reports/2002-3/20023-14429.01.pdf.
  • Financial statement audit – During the FY 2003 financial statement audit, various tests and reviews of the primary accounting system and internal controls were conducted as required by the Chief Financial Officers' Act. In their FY 2003 report, the auditors reported no material weaknesses in internal controls or material compliance violations. The auditors issued an unqualified opinion on USPTO's FY 2003 financial statements.

USPTO Performance Goals

The USPTO Performance Plan, which is included in our annual budget submission, has three core goals and ten performance measures for FY 2003. Information on the goals and measures is contained in the next two sections: Patent Performance and Trademark Performance.

Photo showing Deputy Under Secretary Dudas swearing in Rick D. Nydegger, the new Chairman of the Patent Public Advisory Committee.

Deputy Under Secretary Dudas swears in Rick D. Nydegger, the new Chairman of the Patent Public Advisory Committee.

 

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