Patent Office Issues Guidance on Examiners’ Financial Conflicts

The US Patent and Trademark Office directed patent examiners to recuse themselves from looking at applications in which they have a financial interest, days after an examiner agreed to settle allegations of impropriety.

In the memo, issued publicly Monday, PTO Director John Squires tells patent examiners and their supervisors to abstain from handling applications if they have a financial stake in any of the relevant applicants, regardless of the dollar value of their interest. Executive-branch guidance generally allows for a de minimis exception for holdings of $15,000 or less, he wrote.

The memo comes within a week of the ...