United States Patent and Trademark Office November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is announcing a December 2, 2014 roundtable and requesting written comments on USPTO use of crowdsourcing to identify relevant prior art. Members of the public are invited to participate at the roundtable. On February 20, 2014, the White House issued a series of executive actions including crowdsourcing prior art as a means to strengthen patent quality. The roundtable will address the executive action by exploring: (1) How the USPTO can utilize crowdsourcing tools to obtain relevant prior art in order to enhance the quality of examination and issued patents; and (2) ways the USPTO can leverage existing private sector solutions for the electronic receipt and hosting of crowdsourced materials as a means to provide prior art to examiners.