Radio Systems Corp. v. Accession, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2011) – Part II
As the facts are alleged in this case, after learning that Radio Systems had received a notice of allowance on its "SmartDoor" patent application, Accession's patent counsel telephoned the USPTO Examiner handling the Radio Systems. Because the Examiner did not answer the telephone call, Accession's attorney left a voice message. Six days later, the Examiner returned the telephone call and spoke directly with Accession's attorney. During the conversation, the examiner apparently learned about the existence and relevance of the Sullivan prior art patent. (Mr. Sullivan is the founder of Accession). After considering the prior art, the examiner withdrew the patent from issue and filed a new rejection of independent claim 17 based on the Sullivan prior art. Without comment, Radio Systems cancelled claim 17 and the patent issued.
These conversations all occurred in August 2009. For the three years prior to that time, Radio Systems and Accession had been engaging in a slow conversation regarding the Sullivan patent and whether Radio Systems would license the patent rights. During that time, Radio Systems never submitted the reference as prior art to the patent examiner.
To recap, a patent attorney representing a third party (who was interested in ensuring that no patent issued) provided the USPTO Examiner with valuable prior art and likely an explanation of how the prior art related to the patent application under examination. The Examiner had a verbal conversation with the patent attorney and concluded that the prior art rendered the pending claims invalid. The patent applicant had previously been made aware of the prior art but had failed to inform the Examiner of its existence. Without argument, the patent applicant cancelled its claim after it was rejected by the Examiner.
Illegitimate Means to a Legitimate End?: From all appearances, the result of this sequence of events is that third-party contact helped the USPTO avoid issuing a patent with invalid claims. The problem is that the examiner and attorneys had to violate USPTO rules to achieve that beneficial result. When rules in-place frustrate beneficial ends, the proper solution may well be to change the rules.
Legitimizing the Means: What is needed here is a simple straightforward mechanism for third parties to provide information to patent examiners regarding reasons why a particular pending application should be rejected. The submission should be written and preferably in the English language, but there is no reason why it must follow any other formality requirements. At that point, the patent examiner should have independent authority to consider the submission on its merits. Written correspondence (such as e-mail correspondence) between the third party and the examiners could also be allowed to give the examiner a better opportunity to understand the submission. The written record is helpful to avoid the appearance of any secret or improper dealings between the examiner and a third party.
Background on Third Party Attempts to Protest or Otherwise Oppose the Grant of a Published Application
US patent applications were not published prior to 2001. As Congress considered implementing the publication system, some patent applicants complained that competitors and others would raise the cost of patenting by filing needless oppositions. Thus, the law was written to limit third party oppositions. The relevant statute, 35 U.S.C. § 122(c), states that:
The Director shall establish appropriate procedures to ensure that no protest or other form of pre-issuance opposition to the grant of a patent on an application may be initiated after publication of the application without the express written consent of the applicant.
The USPTO has given a somewhat narrow interpretation to the restrictions blocking any post-publication "protest or other form of pre-issuance opposition to the grant." In its rulemaking for 37 C.F.R. § 1.99, the USPTO decided to allow third parties to submit prior art during a limited two-month period after publication but prohibited any explanation of the patents or publications or the submission of any other information. 1239 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 71. Thus, according to the rulemaking, the mere third-party submissions of prior art is not considered a "protest" or "pre-issuance opposition."
In 2003, Steve Kunin was the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy at the USPTO. In March of that year, Kunin published a notice in the USPTO Official Gazette explaining further limitations on the examination corps in dealing with non-party contact with examiners during ex parte prosecution. Kunin writes:
[T]he USPTO is instructing the Patent Examining Corps to: (1) not reply to any third-party inquiry or other submission in a published application that is still pending before the USPTO; (2) not act upon any third-party inquiry or other submission in a published application, except for written submissions that are provided for in 37 CFR 1.99 and written submissions in applications in which the applicant has provided an express written consent to protest or pre-issuance opposition; and (3) decline to accept oral or telephoned comments or submissions about published applications from third parties. When refusing third-party telephone or oral discussions, examiners may call the party's attention to the statutory prohibition on initiating protests, to this Notice, or to 37 CFR 1.2 (all Office business should be transacted in writing), if appropriate. The USPTO may also refer third-party inquiries or submissions not provided for in 37 CFR 1.99 by registered practitioners in published applications in which the applicant has not provided an express written consent to protest or pre-issuance opposition to the Office of Enrollment and Discipline for appropriate action.
The USPTO's interpretation of the law is that examiners should refuse to consider any submissions by non-parties. However, Kunin's notice further indicated that the USPTO retains the right to use the material submitted if it is relevant to patentability:
[T]he provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 122(c) and 37 CFR 1.99, 1.291, and 1.292 limit a third party's ability to protest, oppose the grant of, or have information entered and considered in an application pending before the USPTO. However, these provisions (and this notice) do not limit the USPTO's authority to independently re-open the prosecution of a pending application on the USPTO's own initiative and consider information deemed relevant to the patentability of any claim in the application.
This approach follows a recent examiner comment on Patently-O that "what has been seen cannot then be unseen."
Changing the Rule without Changing the Law: The law forbids non-party "protests" and other forms of "pre-issuance opposition to the grant of a patent" subsequent to publication of the application. The law also requires the USPTO Director to establish appropriate procedures to ensure that those activities do not take place. However, USPTO has already decided that the law does not forbid submission of prior art documents during a limited time period post-publication so long as the examiner retains independent authority to analyze for patentability and craft rejections. The USPTO would likely be well within its powers to expand the document submission program in a way that (1) allows for submission of explanations; (2) extends the timing of submissions; and (3) reduces or eliminates the fee associated with the submission.
