I recently came across the Annual Report of the Patent Office for the year 2009-10 on the website of the Patent Office. The latest report for the year 2010-2011 is not yet available. Image from here. Some of the figures released in this report of the Patent Office are extremely interesting and if anything highlight the shortage of staff:
1. Rate of patent grant stabilizes: As reported in one of our earlier posts the rate of patent grants was shooting up astronomically despite the number of patent examiners shrinking. In 2004-05, the patent office granted just 1,911 patents with a staff of 150 examiners and 20 Asst. Controllers. By 2006-07 this climbed to a whopping 7,539 patents with a staff of 133 Examiners & 33 Assistant Controllers. In 2008-09 the patent office proceeded to grant 16,061 patents with a reduced staff of 75 patent examiners & 70 Asst. Controllers. The Annual Report for the year 2009-2010 has fallen to a more believable 6168 patents with no great change in the numbers of examiners and controllers. While some may accuse the patent office for efficiency, I would say that 6168 patents in a year is a more believable figure given the resource crunch faced by the patent office.
2. Disposal of pre-grant oppositions: The Annual Report for 2009-2010 states that of 103 pre-grant oppositions were received of which the Patent Office has disposed around 32 pre-grant oppositions. Some of these disposals may pertain to the earlier years. In the year 2008-09, 153 pre-grant oppositions were received of which the Patent Office disposed 39 pre-grant oppositions. In the year 2007-08, 64 pre-grant oppositions were received of which the Patent Office disposed 17 pre-grant oppositions.
3. Disposal of post-grant oppositions: The Annual Report for 2009-2010 states that of 28 post-grant oppositions received of which the Patent Office has disposed only 4 post-grant oppositions. The report also states that 146 post-grant oppositions are still pending. In the year 2008-09, 71 post-grant oppositions were received of which the Patent Office disposed only 7 post-grant oppositions. In the year 2007-08, 34 post-grant oppositions were received of which the Patent Office disposed 6 post-grant oppositions.
4. Restoration of lapsed patents under Section 60: The Annual Report for 2009-2010 states that the Patent Office received 318 applications for restoration of patents!!! Those are a lot of lapsed patents. Of these 318 applications, 281 were allowed and patents restored. In 2008-09 the Patent Office received 399 applications for restorations of patent of which 168 applications were allowed. In 2007-08 the Patent Office received 115 applications for restoration of which only 51 were allowed. The spike in restoration applications is suspicious.
5. Working of patents under Section 83: The Annual Report for 2009-2010 states that around 4189 patents were shown to be commercially working (i.e. out of 30,553 patents which were in force in the year 2009-2010). This means that only 13% of all patents granted are actually being worked. The Annual Report for the year 2008-09 states that around 4752 patents were being commercially worked while the Annual Report for the year 2007-09 states that only around 3499 patents were shown being commercially worked.
Well researched article. However numbers do not always speak the truth as many women examiners/controllers avail the Child Care Leave (CCL) for extended periods of time ranging from six months and beyond. Since the patent office has a sizeable number of women officers, this affects the output to a large extent. However, absence of lady officers is not taken into account while fixing group targets.