I have a friend who works for the patent office reviewing patents, and I've asked her a bit about the process. Overall, they are incentivized to verify claims

I have a friend who works for the patent office reviewing patents, and I've asked her a bit about the process. Overall, they are incentivized to verify claims because they want to do a good job. Same as any other employee at any other job. I don't think they're penalized for rejecting claims and rewarded for letting things through. Their goal is to act appropriately to each case. Where any problems occur due to bad patents being approved seems to be due to time constraints in reviewing patents. My friend didn't think that the patent system is "broken" by any means. Her opinion was that they just need more qualified reviewers. They are hiring like crazy, or at least they were a few years ago.