USPTO to license proprietary e-mail alternative from EPO

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

The USPTO is known for its investments of large sums of money (n x 100 mn
usd) into inefficient and user-unfriendly software, developped by friends
of the managment and then not used by anyone.

One such software is the research system "East and West" acquired two
years ago.  Another is a proprietary alternative to e-mail, which the
USPTO managment wants to roll out in 2006-7.  The purpose of this system
is to enable customers to send patent applications to the USPTO in
electronic form, so than the anthrax virus danger connected to paper and
cdrom filing can be avoided.  Normal e-mail seems to be out of the
question because it doesn't cost n x 100 mn usd to implement.  Same for
www/cgi or zope.  Instead a proprietary system that runs only in
interactive mode on MS Windows must be developped by a few 1000 people.
Since the EPO has already developped just this kind of system, now the
USPTO is considering to license this system from the EPO, and of course to
lobby the JPO and other patent offices world wide to adopt this as a kind
of new proprietary replacement for e-mail which PTO customers shall be
obliged to use.

Here is a report sent by someone to GregNews on this:

-----------
I attended a luncheon speech given by Under Secretary Rogan on Thursday,
June 27th in Philadelphia at a meeting of the Intellectual Property Law
Section of the American Bar Ass'n.  Regarding the future of electronic
patent filing, Rogan said that he has been told by practitioners that
the PTO's e-filing system is cumbersome and not user-friendly. Only about
2% of U.S. patent applications are submitted by e-filing.  In contrast,
practitioners say that the European Patent Office's electronic filing
system is much more user-friendly, compatible and easier to navigate than
the one currently in use at the USPTO.

He revealed that he has reached an agreement in principle whereby the EPO
would license, or "give" its electronic filing system to the USPTO, which
would henceforth be jointly maintained by both Offices.  Filers would be
able to use the same system for the US and the EPO.   He said that "as we
speak, we've had people up at The Hague working out the details."

He said that, "We thought it made better sense, rather than for me to
continue with a thousand employees of our IT section developing our own
IT system that we were scheduled to roll out, I think in 2006 or 7," at
the PTO, instead to make this deal with the EPO to license a system "that
most people think is fairly effective."  He added that the Japanese Patent
Office "is now on board" to use the same electronic patent filing system
and that he has spoken to representatives of 15 or more other countries
inviting them to join Europe, Japan and the US.  Most of them have already
expressed enthusiasm to join, or at least to go home and talk about it.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation       http://swpat.ffii.org/
120,000 signatures against software patents      http://www.noepatents.org/