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Ombudsman Pilot Program Review(08/23/10)
A teleconference was held on August 18, 2010 to discuss how the ombudsman pilot program is working for patent applicants. The ombudsmen, who are all supervisory patent examiners and thus very experienced, received 187 inquiries in four months and resolved 182, usually within two business days. The ombudsmen do not replace normal communications with patent examiners. Their purpose is to act when the normal prosecution process breaks down, such as when an examiner cannot be reached, refuses an interview, repeatedly cites the same art despite amendments to the claims, and refuses to enter an amendment after final when the only amendment is to re-write an otherwise allowable dependent claim in independent form. Applicants are advised to resort to this procedure in such situations.
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