Patent Office Exempts Examiners From Buyouts, Early Retirement

Patent and trademark examiners aren’t eligible for buyouts the US Patent and Trademark Office offered all other employees Tuesday, according to emails obtained by Bloomberg Law.

An email from PTO acting chief administrative officer Anne Mendez followed one sent to all US Commerce Department personnel earlier on Tuesday explaining eligibility for Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments, which it said gives payments of as much as $25,000 to employees exiting voluntarily before a reduction in force.

“Both programs are open to all employees except patent examiners, trademark examining attorneys, supervisory patent examiners, and supervisory trademark examining attorneys,” ...