Conspiracy at the U.S. Patent Office?

[Horatius]

I receive a mostly daily e-mail newsletter about patenting issues in the US, put out by a fellow named Gregory Aharonian. He's got a bit of a bee in his bonnet about management issues at the US. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Some of his complaints are valid, while others are hobby-horses of his. But today, he posted as part of his newsletter something that looks like a classic Conspiracy Theory in the making.

I'll quote the relevant part here:

DOES THE PTO HAVE A DO-NOT-ISSUE PATENT APPLICATION LIST?

What follows is a form of PTO management corruption that if true, is no
less than criminal - the existence of a secret DO-NOT-ISSUE list. I ask
any patent examiner, if the following lists exist, to one way or the
other provide me with a copy of the list. Anyone reading this PATNEWS,
please forward to examiners who don't receive PATNEWS. And if I can obtain
such a list, I ask the lawyers on this list to help me contact the Justice
Department for them to launch a criminal investigation. The corruption of
the Bush Administration has gone too far in the Patent Office. The form
of protection provided by patents is vital to the new technologies that
this country needs to turn around the nation's economy. Applicants do not
need to be terrorized by PTO management.

What am I talking about? From a PATNEWS reader:

Hi Greg. Anonymous as always. I've heard from a normally reliable
source that the USPTO has a "DO NOT ISSUE LIST", i.e. a list of
patent applications that they will not issue no matter what. Do you
know anything about this? I'm tending to believe this, as I've had
several instances of winning appeals at the BPAI only to have the
examiner reopen prosecution. In one case this happened twice.

If there is such a list, I'm wondering if the USPTO management isn't
interfering with an inventor's constitutional right to a patent, to
the extent of being criminal?

In addition to a general freeze, my source says that there is a more
specific list of "DO NOT ISSUE" applications which are based upon
who-knows-what criteria. This source knows an examiner who recently
left the USPTO who can call up a current examiner and find out if a
hard-to-issue patent is on the "DO NOT ISSUE" list.

I agree with you that Dudas is the worst head of the USPTO of all
time.

Does the DO-NOT-ISSUE list exist? If so, I beseech any and all patent
examiners to help me get a copy of the list. If I do, I will be on the
first plane to Washington to hound the Justice Department into launching
a criminal investigation. This corruption must end, especially in a time
when we need to do whatever we can to support the technology innovators
who will help turn our economy around. The corruption of PTO management
is sabotaging such innovators. Indeed, having to deal with idiotic
rejections in Office Actions, at the cost of tens of thousands of
dollars in responses and appeals, borders on being terrorized by PTO
management. This corruption must stop.

This shows all the hallmarks of a CT:

1) Secret Government Orders that Violate the Constitution
2) Secret Government Orders that Will Also Destroy the Economy
3) Evidence from an Anonymous Source, Quoting A Guy Who Knows a Guy
4) The Guy Who Knows a Guy quotes a Former Government Agent, who is Also Anonymous
5) The Former Government Agent can't Provide the Evidence Himself, he just Passes Information from Yet Another Anonymous Source
6) Yet Another Anonymous Source also Won't Provide the Evidence
7) So We Need Your Help, Government! Please Rat Yourselves out to Us!
8) Oh, and BUSH SUX! It's all HIS FAULT!!!!11!!1!1!


Did I miss anything?

The really fun part is, there are USPTO employees, and former employees, who post at JREF, so if this is true, we could either bust it wide open, or have ourselves a good old JREF shill-lynching! WooT!!

Or, they could just tell us it's not true, but where's the fun in that?

Off to send a few PMs with a link to this thread!

 

[Spud1k]

I can see how this one would progress... that letter alone would to someone like Alex Jones constitute "proof, direct from a USPTO whistleblower, that the government has a do-not-issue list". And then we're into the 'prove me wrong' territory.

 

[geni]

Sort of. There are things that in theory the patent office won't issue patents on without seeing a working model (perpetual montion for example). In practice it is fairly trivial to phrase things in such a way that the patent office will grant a patent anyway.

The patent system has issues but they are more to do with bad patents being granted than good patents being rejected.

 

[defaultdotxbe]

Sort of. There are things that in theory the patent office won't issue patents on without seeing a working model (perpetual montion for example). In practice it is fairly trivial to phrase things in such a way that the patent office will grant a patent anyway.

which makes me wonder how specific this list is, and what sort of things are on it, it would be ironic if the information on the list is itself enough info to be granted the patent, in whcih case the patent office could just issue the patent to itself and be done with it (of course they could probably do that anyway)

which now that i think about it would make more sense, simply not issueing patents doesnt prevent someone from making and marketing a new invention, just from collecting royalties from copycats

 

[Horatius]

Sort of. There are things that in theory the patent office won't issue patents on without seeing a working model (perpetual montion for example). In practice it is fairly trivial to phrase things in such a way that the patent office will grant a patent anyway.

I read it as being a more specific list: "Hey, Bob, you know US 2005 0 123 123?" "Yeah?" "Never issue that thing! Okay?" "Sure!"

Otherwise it's not so nefarious, is it?

The patent system has issues but they are more to do with bad patents being granted than good patents being rejected.

The thing is, this e-mail is the latest and most out there manifestation of a meme some of these guys have been promoting for the last year or so: That to solve the problem of bad patents being granted, the USPTO has simply decided to grant as few patents as possible, rather than actually try to do a better job. There have been ongoing rumours that examiners are being pressured to reject applications on any grounds whatsoever, and now, hoo boy! They even have a Black List!

It just looked to me like I was seeing a whole new, although admittedly limited, CT develop right before my eyes!

 

[Horatius]

which now that i think about it would make more sense, simply not issueing patents doesnt prevent someone from making and marketing a new invention, just from collecting royalties from copycats

It's not supposed to be about suppressing any technology, but instead, is about covering up USPTO management's incompetence. There are some very vexatious issues in the patent world right now, and a lot of people think the current managers are whole incapable of sorting it all out, and are trying to sweep it all under the rug, rather than admit that, and lose their cushy jobs.

 

[NobbyNobbs]

I work at the USPTO, and I have yet to even hear about such a list, much less see it.

Hoo boy, I hope that patent I issued for the free energy machine doesn't get me into too much trouble....

 

[Horatius]

I work at the USPTO, and I have yet to even hear about such a list, much less see it.

Hoo boy, I hope that patent I issued for the free energy machine doesn't get me into too much trouble....

Oh, come on now! You don't expect us to buy that, do you? Even we at the Canadian Office have our secrets!



Ask me who really invented the Ski-Doo.