BIO Issues Statement Regarding USPTO Performance Report

    By Donald Zuhn --

On Monday, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood released a statement regarding the 2007 Performance and Accountability Report issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on November 15th (see "USPTO Announces "Record Breaking" 2007 Performance").  At the time of the report's release, the Patent Office stated that the report's numbers "reveal historic improvement in the quality of patent and trademark reviews and subsequently the quality of issued patents and registered trademarks."

According to Mr. Greenwood (at left), the report shows a high number of new patent applications and issuances in 2007 and "marked improvement in the quality of patents issued, demonstrating a more rigorous process of patent examination."  In view of the report's findings, Mr. Greenwood urges the Senate, which is considering its own patent reform bill (see "Senate May Act on Patent "Reform" Bill in the New Year"), to "tread carefully and deliberately when considering patent reform."  Mr. Greenwood contends that the Patent Office report "undermine[s] the calls for draconian 'reforms' to the patent system," and argues that the report clearly indicates that "the fundamentals of our current system are sound, and improving over time."  Mr. Greenwood also contends that patent reform proposals that "encourage infringement and weaken the certainty and predictability of patents must be rejected," since "[s]uch proposals would discourage investment in innovative industries such as biotech, in which it often takes more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a product to market."

For additional information on this topic, please see:

• "BIO CEO Provides Briefing on Follow-On Biologics and Patent Reform," September 18, 2007