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Miscelaneous IP Nuggets #2

Several developments at the Patent Office are worth noting:

1)  Effective October 1st, the Patent Office has revised its operating structure.  Two new “offices” reporting to Director Kappos have been created:  Office of Chief Communications (which will be involved with public affairs) and Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity.  Most importantly, the reorganization now places the Board of Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) directly under Kappos (rather than the Office of General Council).  It appears also that changes will be made to ensure that the backlog at the BPAI is reduced.  The revised operating structure at the Patent Office is shown here.

2) As mentioned in an earlier post, the stated goal of the Patent Office was to reduce backlog of new patent applications to below 700,000 by the end of the 2010 Fiscal Year (which ended on September 30th).   According to a source at the Patent Office, it appears that this goal was not quite reached.  Meanwhile, the “Patent Dashboard” still has stats for August…..

3) It has been reported that the Chief Judge of the BPAI has left that position to assume another in top management at the Patent Office.  Accordingly, the position of Chief Judge is vacant…. and needs to be filled.