Media Mentions
2009
John Hankins commented on the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) "hoteling" program, which allows nearly a quarter of its patent examiners to work from home, for Law360 on May 12. Mr. Hankins noted that the program's goals of improving examiner morale, increasing retention and reducing PTO costs can benefit the patent applicant community, but such problems as securing in-person interviews with examiners, and ensuring that junior examiners remain in the PTO enough to get experience, still need to be addressed. And, he added, still more can be done to reduce PTO filing backlogs. "Examiners should provide applicants with first office actions that give good hints on what is patentable and be more receptive to interviews. They also should be more willing to work as a partnership with applicants to allow a patent that is valid to be granted."
