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Count System Initiatives to Continue Through FY2011

The Office distributed a memo today informing the examining corps that the Joint Count System Task Force had arrived at an agreement to continue the new count system [the provisions of which were discussed in a past post] through the end of FY2011.

There are two tweaks to the system for next year. Examiners' production time adjustment (meant to make up for time lost due to reduced counts for RCEs) will be recalculated based on RCEs received by each individual examiner during the first 24 bi-weeks of FY2010. They are also relaxing the 6-month time window within which examiners must work for applications on their regular new docket.

The details will be in the new memorandum of understanding, yet to be released.

According to the memo, the Task Force agreed that since significant provisions of the Count System Initiative were not implemented until mid-February, it was simply too soon to make more substantive changes.

Full post as published by Just a Patent Examiner on August 31, 2010 (boomark / email).