That kind of ratchet can happen, but I still think the "be nice" effect is much less important than the "add procedural complexity" effect. I don't see how a st

That kind of ratchet can happen, but I still think the "be nice" effect is much less important than the "add procedural complexity" effect. I don't see how a study could distinguish the two without re-examining every patent, but: 1. Anecdotally over my interactions with patent examiners (using both large firms studied in the linked article and small firms), that's how it felt. I never felt the big firms were getting directly special treatment. I often felt they had an oddly perfect understanding of a mostly-arbitrary set of rules not necessarily grounded in any statute or case law that they nonetheless somehow shared with the examiners. 2. The "complexity" effect doesn't require trust. The former examiner genuinely has specialized knowledge that will benefit the new employer, so the employer has an incentive (beyond some vague hope of goodwill from examiners still in government) to keep up the bargain.