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Patent Law

: Patently Obvious

Estimated Workload of Preparing and Filing Reexaminations

By Dennis Crouch, Esq.

ADVERTISEMENTS

As part of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), the USPTO is required to evaluate its methods of collecting information from the public. In a recent Paperwork Act notice & publication, the Office offered the following estimates for reexamination practice.

Response	Estimated Time Response (hours)	Estimated Number of Annual Responses	Total Hours
Request for Ex Parte Reexamination Transmittal Form (PTO/SB/57)	18 minutes	845	254
Request for Ex Parte Reexamination	40 hours	845	33,800
Request for Inter Partes Reexamination Transmittal Form (PTO/SB/58)	18 minutes	380	114
Request for Inter Partes Reexamination	90 hours	380	34,200
Petition to Review Refusal to Grant Ex Parte Reexamination	15 hours	25	375
Petition to Review Refusal to Grant Inter Partes Reexamination	25 hours	9	225
Patent Owner's 37 CFR 1.530 Statement	7 hours	105	735
Third Party Requester's 37 CFR 1.535 Reply	7 hours	60	420
*Amendment in Ex Parte* or Inter Partes Reexamination**	20 hours	1,165	23,300
Third Party Requester's 37 CFR 1.947��Comments in Inter Partes��Reexamination	25 hours	300	7,500
Response to Final Rejection in Ex��Parte Reexamination	15 hours	320	4,800
Patent Owner's 37 CFR 1.951 Response�in Inter Partes Reexamination	25 hours	120	3,000
Third Party Requester's 37 CFR 1.951�Comments in Inter Partes��Reexamination	25 hours	95	2,375
Petition to Request Extension of��Time in Ex Parte or Inter Partes��Reexamination	30 minutes	475	238
Total	�	5,124	111,336

�

Are these estimates in the ball park? How many hours are spent preparing a request for ex parte reexamination? Perhaps most importantly - what is missing here from the time spent in reexamination practice? Comments may be submitted to Susan.Fawcett@uspto.gov (Subject: A0651-00XX Patent Reexaminations comment). Notice at 74 FR 39916.

Assuming that the total -- 111,336 hours -- represent the entire amount of attorney time spent on reexaminations. Those hours are the equivalent of about 60 full time patent attorneys.

Full post as published by Patently Obvious on August 20, 2009 (boomark / email).