By Michael Borella — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office handles hundreds of thousands of patent applications per year, as well as various types of administrative patent proceedings. While the USPTO has made incremental improvements in its examination practices and IT systems to streamline applicant workflows, there are a number of relatively small changes that it could employ to reduce applicant time and expense. Both substantive and procedural, these changes would clarify certain aspects of examination while eliminating redundant paperwork. The net outcome of these changes would be a reduction in cost for applicants — namely, less time spent by…
