Patent Office Prioritizes Quantity Over Quality, Says GAO (1)

The US Patent and Trademark Office incentivizes examiners to put a stronger emphasis on the volume of patents they review than the quality, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The PTO’s emphasis on quantity is built into its measurements for examiners’ output, performance evaluations, and incentive structures, according to the report released Wednesday, which said the focus on output has persisted at the agency even after a previous study in 2016 revealed the same issue.

The GAO said it conducted focus groups with nearly 50 examiners for the report, also analyzed agency documents and interviewed officials. ...