USPTO to Allow Pre-Appeal-Brief Supervisory Conferences

According to Dennis Crouch at the Patently-O Blog, USPTO Director Jon Dudas gave a great luncheon talk at the well attended Town Hall Meeting on Patent Reform held in Chicago on Friday, March 4. The topics of discussion included transparency, reexamination, and appeals. On the latter point, Dudas laid out plans to introduce an opportunity for a pre-brief appeal conference with the Examiner and at least one supervisor to discuss perceived errors in the final rejection. "The thought is that this conference may eliminate a good portion of easy cases that are normally decided only after the applicant files a (costly) brief," writes Dennis.

According to the USPTO's subsequent press release, this "One Program Will Save Patent Applicants $30 Million Annually."