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United States Patent and Trademark Office Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2003 Management Discussion and Analysis |
Board of Patent Appeals and InterferencesBy the end of FY 2003, the BPAI has met the goals of the five-year plan that it instituted in FY 1998. At the beginning of FY 1998, BPAI had 9,201 patent appeals and 448 interferences pending. The pending appeals represented an inventory of 39 months, and interferences took on average, over 36 months to complete. To reduce the appeal inventory backlog to six months and the average interference pendency to two years, the USPTO increased the number of Administrative Patent Judges (APJs), instituted an APJ incentive performance award program, re-instituted appeals conferences in the Patent examining corps, and made efficiency improvements at the Board. As of the end of FY 2003, BPAI had reduced the inventory of patent appeals to 1,968, or six months, and the average pendency of interferences to 22 months. The number of interferences pending at the end of the fiscal year was 107, the lowest number in 20 years. These numbers represent a 78 percent reduction in the inventory of patent appeals and a 76 percent reduction in the inventory of pending interferences since the beginning of FY 1998. |
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