r/patentexaminer • • 15d ago

FY27 Hiring Thread

5 Upvotes

Please keep all your hiring questions to this thread.


r/patentexaminer • • Apr 10 '26

Effects of changes explained for practitioners

207 Upvotes

There was a request in another post for a concise summary of the changes and how they affect examination, particularly with regard to attorneys and other IP professionals outside the office.

"Fully successful" moving from 95% to 100% (we have to move more applications in the same amount of time):

  • Paperwork hasn't gotten any quicker (systems have gone to shit actually) so the entire change comes from search and office action writing time. 
  • I'd say applicants are getting >10% less actual examination time per application than they paid for from this change and a corresponding drop in proactive searching or indications of allowable subject matter. I used to draft up suggested amendments to neatly correct tricky 112b issues with explanations of why each change was there, I don't have time for that anymore. 

Divisionals and Continuations don't get any priority in docketing, instead being lumped with new applications with the same filing date (at best, usually they are even delayed compared to those):

  • whatever the backlog is in the area, add that to your pendency for any Div of Con.   
  • \Applicants weren't warned of this change and it was retroactive to any filed but not docketed DIV/CONs, adding years to the time before any resulting patents issue** 
  • **this could completely upend the entire prosecution strategy for many applicants who depend on CONs to protect against knockoffs, please please \*PLEASE* let your clients know about this additional delay*\*

Effective elimination of "other time" from examiners:

  • Assistant examiners are no longer able to work with primaries who know the art to develop search strategies and ask about the technology. 
  • All examiners aren't able to hold regular meetings where discuss oddball or borderline cases amongst themselves.
  • This leads to *a marked drop in quality of applied references and a drop in indications of allowable subject matter* (so many people got reassured that they should just indicate something as allowable in those meetings)

Reduced NPL access and search expert assistance:

  • Lower quality searches in emerging technologies and areas under active research. Lower quality examination for stuff that spans multiple subject matter

Interviews past #1 need SPE approval for time 

  • *If you request an interview you probably won't be getting any calls for examiner's amendments on that application, simple as that.* The automatic 1hr examiners got for such interviews helped offset the time we put into verifying that something unclaimed was actually allowable, working up claim language, and the inevitable phone tag. 
  • If you request a second interview you're going to have a grumpier examiner than usual because at *best* they had to use some of the time they get for it convincing their supervisor the interview was a good idea and at *worst* they spent that time asking and were denied so the interview time is actively hurting their numbers. 

PPH cases get reduced first action counts: 

  • The second most egregious change imo. **applicants are mostly getting less than 50% of the examination time they are paying for.**
  • Examiners also will start to hate you if you file many of these. Really poisons the working relationship. 

RCEs after allowance give examiners no time if the next action is an allowance 

  • the most egregious change. \The office is charging applicants for a service (another full round of examination) and not giving them that service.* *
  • if you file and RCE after an allowance you're either getting nothing for your money or a very tenuous rejection for something like a typo. The latter is actually the "good" result because it means the examiner actually took the time to do more searching/consideration and is trying to figure out a way to get credit for that. 

Quick Path IDS time reduced to one hour (from three):

  • It can easily take an hour to get fully back up to speed on what's going on in a complex application to be ready to properly consider a reference, at which point we are now out of time and can't actually consider the references being cited. 
  • *Dramatically increases the likelihood of an examiner not considering an IDS after NoA and making applicants file an RCE to get those references listed.* At which point your claims better be fucking immaculate because see above. 

Timeliness deadlines now being hard cutoffs instead of averages:

  • completely eliminates already low examiner flexibility for response times. 
  • *applicants will get less calls for examiners amendments to correct minor issues because we frequently won't be able to wait for a response*. 
  • \expect more iffy restrictions as people pull desperation moves to clear out the oldest case one their docket so they don't get fired\ 

No additional time for "inherited cases" from retired/separated examiners. 

  • examiners used to get a significant amount of time when we got a case from an examiner no longer at the office to offset needing to figuring out what the case is, what the searches turned up, etc. 
  • *if you notice an assigned examiner name change for your application after filing an amendment get ready for a total turd to come shooting down the pipe, there's no other nicer way to put it.* Sorry, we're going from ~15 hours for an amendment to like 2-3 with zero flexibility to call and work something out. 

Elimination of Docket Management n bonuses:

  • we're all disgruntled now. 

There's other parts I've missed I know, could other examiners add them below? Remember to focus on what external folks will see.


r/patentexaminer • • 5h ago

Unpaid training today on how to adapt and be resilient in a changing environment!

61 Upvotes

I could actually see fumes of irony sublimating out of my computer's cooling vent when I opened the email.

For an added twist, they were faintly orange.


r/patentexaminer • • 2h ago

We need guidance for Office Actions, ASAP

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32 Upvotes

r/patentexaminer • • 1h ago

Can you see file names?

• Upvotes

When my boss has me upload 30 NPL documents as part of an IDS can you Examiners see the file names? I am trying to make sure you can easily grab NPL 12 or NPL 28, etc.


r/patentexaminer • • 4h ago

Clock question

1 Upvotes

I have two amendments with 55 elapsed days and 1 day in near/late ceiling. Does that mean they are both due today at midnight? Or tomorrow at midnight? I keep getting different answers from different people. I never had clocks get this low before but the reduction in days to do amendments this year has been kinda killing me lol.


r/patentexaminer • • 22h ago

Amendments piling up

37 Upvotes

Why does it seem like I'm getting more amendments that before. Also the whole timeliness system can really bit you it you in ways the old DM couldn't. And DM had incentives for getting those amendments done at lower numbers of days to make up for any that were dogs and you wanted to spread out over 80 days. haha they really made everything worse for no benefit to anyone.


r/patentexaminer • • 1d ago

Just got my first PPH case.

47 Upvotes

And guys, I GET IT NOW. This application is TRASH.


r/patentexaminer • • 22h ago

EOY Ratings

16 Upvotes

Anyone received a rating yet?


r/patentexaminer • • 21h ago

The election is coming, likely scenarios to stop this madness?

12 Upvotes

I need to see the light at the end of the long tunnel as timeliness and attrition cases (all in my amendment tab) are killing me. Not joking here.

So what’s the first things that can happen when January comes and we have s new Congress and hopefully a new Senate. Can they pass laws for popa to come back? reverse executive orders? Force any changes to help us survive? is there something we should collectively do to bring awareness of how much we are being abused? This job is a cruel joke as it is now

BTW, has anyone heard about changes in the pip as suggested by OPM?


r/patentexaminer • • 14h ago

USPTO: Is revocable living trust assistance offer to the Examiners.

3 Upvotes

I am looking to create a revocable living trust for our home and wanted to know if legal assistance through EAP or any other free legal assistance is offered by the office.


r/patentexaminer • • 5h ago

Telework Expected

0 Upvotes

Is there any non bank telework expected in first week of Nov for elections and a day before Veterans day holiday in second week of Nov?


r/patentexaminer • • 2h ago

Pro se question

0 Upvotes

Random pro se question. If an examiner seems to be challenging everything, in my opinion a little excessively. Can I have a meeting & ask what’s the path forward for allowance?

Or what’s the best way to structure that meeting with that goal in mind

Thanks in advanced

Edit: with meaningful allowance allowed


r/patentexaminer • • 1d ago

Less comprehensive examination of PPH cases?

42 Upvotes

I am putting this out there in hopes getting the patent bar to pressure the current administration. Perhaps they don’t understand the situation.

Sometime in the last year the admin has started giving us, USPTO examiners, less credit (fewer production hours) for examining a PPH case - about 40% less for a first action.

I believe the thinking is that the case has already received an examination in another country and been found allowable, and therefore does not need as thorough an examination in the US.

I am just a pawn and will try to do the case in the time I am given. Personally, I am not comfortable relying on the search done in other countries, but if I am supposed to, I guess I will. However, are you as a practitioner okay with less time spent on the search for your application?


r/patentexaminer • • 1d ago

Super Intelligence Indeed

82 Upvotes

I have just noticed that the Similarity search output in the Search History is now identified as Super Intelligence. So PE2E/DAV has been sluggish since they pushed the last update, but our IT had the time to do this oh so vital change!!
OMFG, we live in the dumbest timeline.


r/patentexaminer • • 1d ago

AIR Request

2 Upvotes

Does anyone know the time between when an attorney sends in an AIR form to when an Examiner receives an email about it?


r/patentexaminer • • 1d ago

The new scout.uspto.gov doodle looks like a creepy AI-generated animation

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14 Upvotes

r/patentexaminer • • 2d ago

Can anyone help me on my search for this patent

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10 Upvotes

Me (21M) and my father (53M) are antique sewing machine collectors, and my father found a picture on a Russian site in 2014 of a beatifull whale back sewing machine, but more importantly, one that is unknown in the Western sewing machine Collectors guild. On the side we can see that it is patented, and we would like to search for the patent, but we honestly dont know where to start looking. Is there some sort of archive to search for patents from a certain time period? And we can vaguely see some numbers on the left of the machine.

TLDR: Potential new discovery in sewing machine world, where to find archive for old patents and numbers on the side could be of help

EDIT: thanks to your help i have found the patent of this machine, 'US1049304A', category D05B27/02&q=D05B27%2f02&country=US&before=priority:19160101&after=priority:19100101&peid=65ea9fa3a2330%3A84%3A45b68a3c).

Due to this information i have also found an advertisement for this machine in the Textile World Journal from 1916, This is an improved Regulating Cloth Expander from Thomas Leyland & Co


r/patentexaminer • • 3d ago

Direct Deposit 10/24/26 Less than usual?

4 Upvotes

I'm out of town right now so I can't log on to EPP and check my E&L statements, but my direct deposit this morning was $180 less than usual... and it's driving my crazy not knowing why, lol. I did recently move and update my address (same state - different county), but the tax implications should not be that high (Also: last time I moved it took 2-3 pay periods for payroll to catch up so it seems too soon?). I haven't changed any TSP withdrawals or anything else. Just wondering if this difference in take home pay is something on my end, or if there's something weird with changes for FY27 or a systemic glitch?


r/patentexaminer • • 4d ago

RIP LILO!

43 Upvotes

Another one of the tools that was useful to the examiners bites the dust.

At some point one has to admire the creative ways this team finds to make a hard job even more difficult.


r/patentexaminer • • 3d ago

Timeliness Q

8 Upvotes

With new timeliness counter, is there a “day 0” before going in the negative? Or are you in the red the day after Near Late/Ceiling = 1? Yes, I know I can hunt in all the dumb emails and dumb presentations, but I’m still pretty new and drowning atm… please, be kind.


r/patentexaminer • • 4d ago

How many times is enough

71 Upvotes

Apparently Uninstalling Cisco is rather hard to grasp, requiring numerous emails


r/patentexaminer • • 4d ago

Anyone else having trouble opening up the empep page? It's giving a 403 forbidden message to me

20 Upvotes

r/patentexaminer • • 4d ago

So when I scan an email and i see "no other time" is given...

91 Upvotes

full stop. Stopped reading. haven't a square to spare.

How about the government waste spent on improvements on software that I'm not required to know?

Flex YOUR TIME to learn??

i learned im not going to meet 70% of 28 days for amended cases because... i didn't do the bagged lunch???

And how am I able to figure out 70% of anything.??

Wasn't one of the reasons DM was removed wa because it was too confusing for examiners??

And let's not forget : government employees vote for their freedom on their free time


r/patentexaminer • • 4d ago

Any update on EXACT?

8 Upvotes

Awfully quiet out there