In a hard hitting article, CH Unni reports on the rather deplorable career prospects at the Indian Patent Office. I extract below:….“We have been working for the office for more than seven years and in return we have not got a single promotion or pay scale upgradation. We come to the office with shoulders down, and curse through the day,” says a patent examiner, who doesn’t want to be identified due to confidentiality reasons.
…Since there is no performance-linked incentives, majority of patent examiners interviewed by Mint in the four patent offices located in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, expressed strong dissatisfaction in work and admit that close look at the claims in the applications are not often followed.
“Unlike other scientific organizations such as Defence Research and Development Organisation, Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CISR), etc., under the Central government, patent offices do not have the performance-linked growth opportunities. As a result, many of my batchmates do currently hold higher positions and monetary benefits in other organizations,” says another examiner.
A former patent examiner, who joined a scientific organization after quitting patent office, says patent examination logics were often ignored in Indian patent offices and hence the quality of grants suffered.
“Patent examiners were allotted some 20 applications a month, and some of them would have at least 50 inventive claims. I had once fought with my superior as it was impossible to handle all applications as one of them alone had 700 pages and more than 50 claims, ” says R.S. Praveen Raj, scientist, IP management and technology transfer at National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, a CSIR institution. “If I do a thorough scrutiny of this, others will suffer and I didn’t want it to happen.”
The picture painted above is indeed a dismal one! Most of us expect the Indian patent office to maintain the highest standards of scrutiny while examining….but unless we ensure that examiners and Controllers are bestowed with optimal salaries, perks and career prospects at the Indian patent office, our expectations will come to naught. The government (Minister of Commerce, DIPP and indeed even the CG) must act quickly to redress this issue. Perhaps they could begin by hiring a good consultancy firm that can study the service conditions of the patent officials indepth and recommend ways to hire and retain the best talent. We have a great science/technology talent pool coming out of a number of institutions in India every year….and we need to find ways to attract some of the best to the Indian patent office.
A couple of other institutional issues need quick fixing:
Owing to a rather bizarre promotion spree, a number of examiners were promoted as Controllers in the year 2008. This completely skewed the Examiner vs Controller ratio! Leaving the Indian patent office with very few examiners to do the task of primary examination. And naturally our recently promoted controllers refused to step down from their lofty seats and dirty their hands with examination. PH Kurian, the CG then issued an office order mandating Asst Controllers to examine applications as well. This was challenged by some of the Asst Controllers before the CAT (Central Admin Tribunal) and the tribunal stayed the Controllers’ order. It is expected that the government would challenge the CAT order.
As we await a court ruling on this front, I can’t help thinking: why did the IPO get itself into this mess? Why were these sudden promotions made…and that too en masse? Who was behind this? The government (or perhaps the CBI…I smell a rat here) needs to investigate. But in the meantime, the most optimal solution is to appoint more examiners. We believe CSIR will conduct an exam for prospective examiners next January. And the government will then recruit more examiners. One hopes that by next year, the government will find more optimal ways to mentor and train newly appointed examiners. And evolve a clear career graph that they can look forward to, if they perform.
Our inadequately staffed and insufficiently incentivised patent house needs quick fixing. Else we may find that despite all our protests and suggestions for reform, the office continues to under-perform and throw up shameful patents our way!
What did the CAT say ?
How many officers are doing the examination job now ? Does the count (137 examiners mentioned in mint report) include Asst. controllers also ?
Now it is very clear that baseer is having clear nexus with Kurian , a few days back he wrote that he believes that a case is made at Madras High Court which information was only with Controller Generals office and some seniors.How he came to know that -at that point of time ? Further Baseer knows very well that despite making so many shadow boxing for Kurian they could not save him . But Baseer think himslef so big , that he dares to underestimate a quasijudicial chair by saying that people are not releiving lofty chairs. Not only that he has indirectly dishonoured a court order although holding a chair in law !!
Before writing this why didnt Baseer checked that from January 2009 when their so called God father was appointed in IPO no examiners were recruited till date !
It is high time Baseer should check himself and start writing regarding legal points and stop poking into internal matters of IPO.
Now CBI enquiry should be first made how much he takes from Kurian and multinationals to demean a quasijudicial authority and write against them?
Further holding a chair in a Central university how he writes openly in blog to attract cheap public attention without writing through proper channel as far as administrative issues are concerned?
Shamnad Basheer, the promotion of examiner to controller in mass is wrong i agree with that but why u want to give a back ground reasons for the promotion taken plase without even having any clue of it if u have any thing u should come out clerly just blaming bluntly does not give any sense upon u. another thing u want to note along with 41 controller post 200 examiner post had been created, i just want to ask why till date examiner recruitment had not taken place. instead of it the work of examiner like search of inventive and novelty search had been outsourced what is the motive behind that. is that there is no need to recuit more examiners by just depromoting the controllers we can manage the Indian patent Office with a backlog of 80000 applicantions? is there any logic. by hardly asking 25 contollers to do examination he could manage 2500applicantion cleared in an year that is 2% of the backlog for this year. so if u calculate for next year with backlog the percentage of applicantions examined by the controllers will be negligible. so what should be in high peiority? what should the Cg had done first? when he joined as CG he should have started recutment process of examiners but he kept quite for so long and when now court ask, to show the court that they are doing some process to recuit examiners they are giving some reasons. for wrong policy decessions the promoted controllers cannot be punished. it is not only the duty of present CG it is the duy of the earlier Cg’s to recruit examiner to meet the backlog and filling rate of the applicantion for examinations.
The CAT said ‘Meow’! 🙂
CSIR will conduct the examination for the recruitment of Patent Examiner?? This means Ministry of Science and Technology will recruit for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry??
Jaago Vakilon Jaago!!!
Dear Kumar:
I think you’re absolutely right. We also need to raise the issue of why new examiner appointments were not made for the last 2 years?
Dear Kumar:
I think you’re absolutely right. We also need to raise the issue of why new examiner appointments were not made for the last 2 years?
Mr Basheer, first u look, for what u r batting for….Controller General or Patent Office. If yr choice is patent office, then asked this questions to controller General “why he is sitting idle for more than 2 years…and just making false statement regarding recruitment by CSIR…. and also asked whether Controller General is ready to do Examination work in public interest to enhance to quota of new patent applications..” Pls do asked…
Dear Anon,
I don’t bat for either the CG or the IPO. I bat for good patent policy for this country. period.
I have already written a letter to both the CG and the DIPP querying them on this. And will post this letter soon.
In the earlier comment Kumar just said that “Instead of it the work of examiner like search of inventive and novelty search had been outsourced what is the motive behind that”
How can the IPO outsourcing of novelty search? This is a very serious issue and should be dealt with legally. How can CG do such a blunder, he should be out his senses to do such a thing.
Can someone confirm that it is correct and indeed the CG is asking others (private or other organization) to do search for the Government Patent Office?
@Shamnad Basheer,
I feel very sorry when the bloggers allege the owner/writer of a blog. It may be attitude of the civilians of our country. A meagre amount of constructive comments appear in this blog.
This blog speaks on CH Unni’s article. Some facts have been brought forward before us. I appreciate you particularly on this issue.
May I let you know some other new updates? I do not know the recruitment policy of IP office. However, there have been newspaper reports in July this year stating the fact that CSIR will conduct search and examination as these matters will be outsourced to them from IP office. I am curious to know how a body outside patent system perform search for examination can get involved into the recruitment process?
Another blog @ youngmindsatwork (dot)blogspot(dot)com/2010/02/expected-examiners-status-in-indian (dot)html quotes Mr. Kurian’s statement on 26 Feb 2010 stating:
“The entire recruitment and training procedures are expected to be completed by December this year. All these new 257 officers will be ready to work by April or May 2011 which may help in reducing the huge burden of pending patent applications.”
Again he states at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) 7th IP summit:
“The patent office will soon publish the notification for issue of applications for candidates by March, after which they will start with the recruitment of the officers.”
PTI, New Delhi (April 26, 2010) quotes in Business Standard (Patent office to hire 500 people this yr: DIPP Secretary) what the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary R P Singh said at a FICCI function:
“This year the budget (for IPR) is Rs 70-80 crore … something like 400-500 people will be employed this year to tone up the administration in the patent office,”
According to Business Line (from the Hindu, Dec 24, 2009) Mr. Kurian, the head of the IP office said:
“An additional 260 patent examiners will be recruited in early 2010, he says, a task that will be undertaken by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)”.
The facts relating to recruitment are confusing. Outsourcing the examination system to CSIR is also not an healthy experiment to the system. The IP office should move fast, keeping aside CSIR, to recruit high quality & skilled manpower.
@Shamnad Basheer,
I feel very sorry when the bloggers allege the owner/writer of a blog. It may be attitude of the civilians of our country. A meagre amount of constructive comments appear in this blog.
This blog speaks on CH Unni’s article. Some facts have been brought forward before us. I appreciate you particularly on this issue.
May I let you know some other new updates? I do not know the recruitment policy of IP office. However, there have been newspaper reports in July this year stating the fact that CSIR will conduct search and examination as these matters will be outsourced to them from IP office. I am curious to know how a body outside patent system perform search for examination can get involved into the recruitment process?
Another blog @ youngmindsatwork (dot)blogspot(dot)com/2010/02/expected-examiners-status-in-indian (dot)h t m l quotes Mr. Kurian’s statement on 26 Feb 2010 stating:
“The entire recruitment and training procedures are expected to be completed by December this year. All these new 257 officers will be ready to work by April or May 2011 which may help in reducing the huge burden of pending patent applications.”
Again he states at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) 7th IP summit:
“The patent office will soon publish the notification for issue of applications for candidates by March, after which they will start with the recruitment of the officers.”
PTI, New Delhi (April 26, 2010) quotes in Business Standard (Patent office to hire 500 people this yr: DIPP Secretary) what the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) Secretary R P Singh said at a FICCI function:
“This year the budget (for IPR) is Rs 70-80 crore … something like 400-500 people will be employed this year to tone up the administration in the patent office,”
According to Business Line (from the Hindu, Dec 24, 2009) Mr. Kurian, the head of the IP office said:
“An additional 260 patent examiners will be recruited in early 2010, he says, a task that will be undertaken by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)”.
The facts relating to recruitment are confusing. Outsourcing the examination system to CSIR is also not an healthy experiment to the system. The IP office should move fast, keeping aside CSIR, to recruit high quality & skilled manpower.
ha ha..
some of the anons are the promoted controllers. they are now scared that basheer is asking questions about their promotion. they must have paid Mr Dhakad and gang at govt!!
good exposing of this scam..
who do these controllers think they are? and why they refuse to examine? they are not overburdened-they dont do any work at all! CBI must investigate.
no wonder they are now attacking Mr Basheer throgh comments.
Hello ha ha Anonymous,
How much you paid to to one senior JC and one senior AC to get a long overseas trip? Why you sold all the digitized CDs of Designer photographs to one firm? So that somebody gets a job in that firm and you get a very long long foreign trip !Open your mask and then bat for Baseer and Kurien !
all anonymous and ha ha anonymous,
rotten officers like you who don’t do any work and are ganging up against honest officials like Kurian will slowly be exposed. you have become the cancer in our patent system. you take money from patent attorneys and firms and lick them up….
Kurian has ended your corruption racket that you all maintained with govt and DIPP officials for promotions and abroad trips. i personally know that some of your senior gang members are fighting to go to ipab and will do anything to get that post.
Good job spicyip-expose all these rotten apples.
Dear Anon (@12.31 pm),
Sadly, yours was one of the few constructive comments on this piece. You won’t believe the amount of extremely hateful and defamatory comments we’ve received and which we had to moderate out..
I guess these posts are ruffling a lot of feathers…and i continue to believe that there was something very fishy about the en masse promotions that happened and created this sudden shortage. i hope some folks in the know could come on board the blog and reveal this information. ONly increased transparency will bring about greater accountability and help create a more objective patent examination system that works more efficiently.
i’m hoping some more folks would come in with more constructive comments on how we can better things at the IPO. instead of this constant mudslinging and ad hominem attacks. in particular, i refer to the one comment that we let through that takes so many cheap shots at me personally…and calls me a shadow-boxer. I found it so funny that i decided to let it through. I didnt realise that the public had no right to question quasi judicial appointments and positions 🙂
The commentator is clearly peeved that the public now knows so much about the workings of the office….an office that was shrouded in secrecy for so long….
The commentator also alleges that i should stop interfering with the internal affairs of the patent office…Perhaps this office was gifted to him as his dowry?
He then suggests that I should write on this matter through proper administrative channels… And pray, what might those channels be? Stupidity perhaps has no bounds after all. But like i said, some of these comments have incredible humour value….and gives us some lighter moments of respite while tackling these grave issues that require quick fixing.
@Anon (12.32 pm):
Thanks again for your work in culling out various statements of the CG etc on this theme and highlighting the issue of CSIR prior art searches.
We are in the process of collating information relating to this proposal to outsource patent searches to CSIR. On the face of it, there appears to be a conflict…but we need to dig deeper. Any of you with more information on this, please come forward.
Dear Shamnad…the story of outsourcing search goes like this…(New) Secretary Mr. R.P. Singh (IAS), was on Chennai Patent Office Visit… He was understanding the process and workflow in the office…then this Idea came in his mind that search is not the job of patent examiner ….this should be transferred to CSIR… and the same has been done…no one cared that – what is the experience of persons who will organize the search….have they really conducted the search in the past…or Mr. RR Hirwani of URDIP arranged some fake manpower to show Mr. Kurian (CGPDTM), Mr. Parmar, Mr. Kesharwani, Ms. Tiwari, Mr. Patil and Mr. Mohanti (all from Mumbai patent office) when they visited URDIP, Pune – no one cares all these things, as the order has come from the Secretary saab …an IAS officer (I am sure, Mr. R. P. Singh (IAS), was not knowing much about IP system in India before joining DIPP, he was in banking sector, this is a decision taken in haste)… You know Shamnad, right now CG is under tremendous pressure of Ministry, he has to show the numbers to the ministry as last years because of reforms implemented by him office could not show the big numbers…. He has directed examiners to rely upon International search report as far as PCT cases are concerned for Indian cases amateur CSIR reports are there. Although Indian Patent Office was established a long back but still it is in very nascent stage, when we consider searching and preparation of report, which is the core of examination a patent application. First they should establish a strong system in the office itself and then after the work may be out sourced to a well experienced organization.
Apart from search issue.. the human recourses are very badly managed in this office…around 10 senior assistant controllers are waiting for their promotion as deputy controller, for last one and half year but the ministry is sleeping on this issue ..reason being IAS officers and ministry people get time bound promotion…why would they care about patent office people….promotion of senior assistant controllers will not reduce the numbers as they are not doing examination…..
Shamnad…… you say that you bat for strong IP system in India, then please help Patent Office to get free from the red tape…
Dear Shamnad…the story of outsourcing search goes like this…(New) Secretary Mr. R.P. Singh (IAS), was on Chennai Patent Office Visit… He was understanding the process and workflow in the office…then this Idea came in his mind that search is not the job of patent examiner ….this should be transferred to CSIR… and the same has been done…no one cared that – what is the experience of persons who will organize the search….have they really conducted the search in the past…or Mr. RR Hirwani of URDIP arranged some fake manpower to show Mr. Kurian (CGPDTM), Mr. Parmar, Mr. Kesharwani, Ms. Tiwari, Mr. Patil and Mr. Mohanti (all from Mumbai patent office) when they visited URDIP, Pune – no one cares all these things, as the order has come from the Secretary saab …an IAS officer (I am sure, Mr. R. P. Singh (IAS), was not knowing much about IP system in India before joining DIPP, he was in banking sector, this is a decision taken in haste)… You know Shamnad, right now CG is under tremendous pressure of Ministry, he has to show the numbers to the ministry as last years because of reforms implemented by him office could not show the big numbers…. He has directed examiners to rely upon International search report as far as PCT cases are concerned for Indian cases amateur CSIR reports are there. Although Indian Patent Office was established a long back but still it is in very nascent stage, when we consider searching and preparation of report, which is the core of examination a patent application. First they should establish a strong system in the office itself and then after the work may be out sourced to a well experienced organization.
Apart from search issue.. the human recourses are very badly managed in this office…around 10 senior assistant controllers are waiting for their promotion as deputy controller, for last one and half year but the ministry is sleeping on this issue ..reason being IAS officers and ministry people get time bound promotion…why would they care about patent office people….promotion of senior assistant controllers will not reduce the numbers as they are not doing examination…..
Shamnad…… you say that you bat for strong IP system in India, then please help Patent Office to get free from the red tape…
Dear Anon (12.38),
Thanks very much for passing on this valuable information. If true, it points to the sad state of our administration, where those without sufficient subject matter expertise take wrong calls. At the very least, there ought to have been a consultation on this…where folks in the know might have given more sane advice.
I agree with you that we need to focus on ramping uo our own skills within the office before hiving off functions.
I’ve been hearing of this undue focus on numbers (quantity) at the cost of “quality” and will do a post soon on this. High time that the government wake up and devise a metric for measuring patent quality. And reward those patent officials whose decisions are superior in quality as opposed to those that are merely playing the numbers game and granting as many patents as they can.
The numbers game will only kill our system and result in bad patents!
Thank you for encouraging me to play a more active role in all of this. Not sure how much of an impact I can make amidst all this political filth and mudslinging….but I will continue to do all I can to contribute in whatever way possible to a more informed debate on these themes…and with the evolution of better patent policies, better working conditions at the IPO, better career prospects and in the long run, better output from the office.
This office is an institution that is very close to my heart….and i continue to interact with some exceptional patent office officials who are very committed to improving the office. Some of them have stuck on for several years despite being at the wrong end of the government adn their seniors. And I admire their commitment to the cause. The fact that they are fighting it out gives great hope for the office….and once we get more committed and efficient folks like them and drive away the rotten apples who play politics and lick the backsides of their seniors, govt officials and politicians, we’ll have a much more optimal office…an office which will set international benchmarks and end up being the pride of India!
Shamnad Basheer, it is requested not to poke into the internal administrative matters of any office unless you are a part of it. would u allow anybody to poke my nose into ur official works? if yes, then continue…..what is ur profession? an associate prof? how do u sit before net from 10 am till 7 pm everyday? before poking nose into other offices’ internal matters, pls disclose ur personal information. i know u will be scared of publishing this comment in ur blog….u r so scared of right path, alongwith ur connoisseurs, u will be afraid of opening ur daily routine here. stop blaming a system, u r a part of the system. try to rectify the system, if u can. otherwise blaming a system will just blame u too! thanx.
Baseer! Who do you think you are? Savior of ptaent office? mind your own business and stop meddling with internal matter of patent office.
we know where you live in salt lk. and that you ride bike. lots of accident on bikes now.
Dear shamnad… I know these people are very scared now..tht is why they are posting such comments… plz continue wht u r doing right now…plz come up with a story on out sourcing the search work to CSIR… also cover story on bad human resource managment in the patent office…the people who r tring to scare u, are the people who are having power reins of patent office in their hands… i am also part of patent office ..but i want tht truth should be exposed ….who so ever is part of wrong activities should pay the price……
@ anon 4.29 pm
How distructive they are…such people are giving real harm to the office.. if they can think this (bike accident) about a man who is not part of office … think wht can they do to the people of office who are not the part of their wrong deeds… shamnad please dont stop ur work… they can not do anything to u…they are bunch of scared people ……
@ anon 4.29
ppl like you are killing RTI activists in great country INDIA…
Bashheer, I think that things have come to such a stage that it is not humorous any longer. There should be more stringent moderation of comments so that the issues do not get diverted. The original article seemed innocuous enough. The comments are not.
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Dear Varun,
I went back to the figures. and have now learnt that the starting salary of a patent examiner is about Rs 39,000/- per month (if you take away PF etc, it comes to about Rs 35-36,000) in hand. I think this is a fairly decent sum for a government employee. And I know that at least one of Indai’s leading IP firms pays only Rs 50,000 (or perhaps even slightly lesser) for a new patent attorney entrant to the firm. I suspect this must be the broad salary range at most other IP boutiques. In which case, the difference in salaries between the public and private sector is not that startling.
However, the career prospects at the IPO leave much to be desired. I know of patent examiners who have languished as examiners for the last 7 years! Some of these guys are exceptionally bright and committed. but sadly have to wait for “seniority” (read “number of years”) before they are elevated.
The 40 odd promotions (from examiners to controllers) that transpired in 2008 was done without any application of mind! All those examiners that were the seniormost (“number of years”) were automatically promoted, without any regard to their quality of work! Whilst at the same time, the government decided that in so far as the 200 new examiner posts were concerned, they were going to user in new “selection” norms. And I believe a committee headed by a judge was appointed to look into selection norms. And then they decided on an exam…CSIR was entrusted…CSIR took its own sweet time….the govt also dilly dallied…and we have the current mess!
But I digress. the short point is that we need to immediately work out a metric to assess patent official “performance” and reward based on performance …and not based on number of grey hairs. For if we base it mechanically on just number of years, why would the younger bunch have any incentive to over-perform? They would simply be inclined to do the bare minimal and wait till their hair turned grey and they got their promotions!
Secondly, the office needs to be more creative about the positions they create. They ought to have a research and policy wing…and those with the inclination can try thier hand at this. An international division…an IT division etc etc….so that there are diverse career options and tracks within the IPO—as opposed to teh standard examiner vs controller…and even here, the various positions and their responsibilities are not clearly culled out (deputy controller vs assistant controller vs joint controller). Like I said in my post, the govt needs to bring in an outside agency/consultancy to study the office indepth and recommend ways to enhance range of career tracks/options and work out performance linked awards and promotions.
To Whichever “Anonymous” This May Concern:
I would have let in your comment (where you have very usefully given us the name of the judge heading the committee devising norms for patent examiner recruitment etc), but for the personal references and attacks against Varun Chhonkar. You may disagree with Chhonkar…but please do so in a healthy manner. Kindly delete these personal references to him and his career track…so that I can let this comment through and we can focus on a more constructive engagement with the issues. Thanks. Shamnad
Dear Mr. Chhonkar…first thing no one is under performing in the patent office…may be you are having wrong information with you… do you really know the patent office?
To expect promotions during a job is a very normal thing, as this gives you feel of growth….. don’t you try to expand your business?….
You have suggested ‘if the money is the prime concern then examiners should leave this job’ ….very very wrong suggestion….
Please come up with constructive suggestions…..
My suggestions to the government/ ministry/ CGPDTM are –
1. Appoint more examiners ASAP, as pendency is increasing day by day.
2. Form promotion/ pay up gradation policy ASAP, otherwise the examiner who will join the office will face the same problems, what current lot of examiners is facing right now….
I do agree with the Anonymous. Esteem, status, comfortable work atmosphere, career growth opportunities etc. may be the main concerns for the Examiners.
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Dear Mr Varun R Chunkaar,
Can you find any decency in the comments of last paragraph made by Mr Shamnaad Baseer at 12:58 pm ?
He thinks that all are having bad relations with agents etc as he has written before.
But he himself is saying that he is having very cosy relationship ( we dont know , how far it goes )with some senior people of Patent office. Why the relationship what Shamnaad Baseer is having is good and other’s is bad?
See the partiality–seems MR Shamnaad Baseer has some personal vendetta and interest!
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I spoke to some of the leading IP law firms today and found that the starting salary for a new patent agent that joins their office is only Rs 30,000 (on an average). Contrast this with the starting salary at the IPO which is Rs 39,000! Clearly, a good start, one would say. And one of the few cases where the public sector is paying more than the private sector…
However, the problem is with the lack of career prospects once one has made it to the IPO. And any performance linked remuneration/promotion. This needs to be worked out. Else we’ll find that a number of talented youngsters join the IPO, but leave after a couple of years for lucrative salaries and jobs at private law firms.
Dear Anon (@5.53 pm):
What was so indecent about the statements I made in post (@12.58). Kindly point out the alleged statements that roused your passion? Perhaps we understand and interpret the English language differently?
Of course some patent agents have nexuses with the patent office. Unni of the Mint fame did a scoop on this unholy alliance…adn so did an Austrian agency. In fact, I have several colleagues at law firms who will attest to these unholy alliances.
But this is not to paint the entire office with a bad brush. It is merely to point to those rotten apples that exist in the office and give it a bad name. We need to expose these rotten apples and get them out of the system..else the system will decay.
As for my nexus with Kurian and others at the patent office, I deal with them since I am interested in patent office policy from an academic perspective.
I am consulted on patent office policy from time to time. And I am part of two committees dealing with the patent agent exam and IT stuff at the patent office. So naturally I will be in touch with Kurian and other senior members no?
Anyway, what matters is not how I know….but what to do with that knowledge. How can we use this knowledge to improve things at the IPO? I use that knowledge to kickstart a public debate and yet people like you want desperately that I should keep my mouth shut…and not interfere with the workings of the patent office at all!
I’ve been writing on this office since 2005– perhaps you don’t appreciate the value of academic input into the workings of this office..or perhaps you don’t feel the need to brainstorm or think through these issues at all? With folks like you around, I guess the office is perfect and needs no improvement?
too many anons…very much confusing especially the style of associating with “time”…i lose my concentration on the matter…:)