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The examiners don't get bonused on allowing patents. But if too many of their decisions are challenged, their career prospects dim. At least that's the way it w

The examiners don't get bonused on allowing patents. But if too many of their decisions are challenged, their career prospects dim. At least that's the way it was in the 70's when my dad was a patent examiner. The way the game worked then was for the examiner to negotiate with the filer to reduce the number and size of the patent's claims until the patent could be allowed, but was so weak as to not be worth challenging by the filer's competitors.

Alex3917 8y ago
> The examiners don't get bonused on allowing patents. Yes, they do. They are paid based on how many patents they process, and it takes less hours to approve a patent than to reject one.
- binarymax 8y ago
  Citation please? I've never heard of any federal agency employee getting any kind of commission such as this.
  - fjsolwmv 8y ago
    They get promoted for processing faster. That's equivalent to get paid per patent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31/inside-the-stressed-out-time-crunched-patent-examiner-workforce https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31...
  - hedora 8y ago
    Not the best article to cite to make this point, but: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31/inside-the-stressed-out-time-crunched-patent-examiner-workforce/?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31... > "Our data finds that as examiners are given less time to review applications, the less prior art they cite, the less likely they are to make time-consuming prior art rejections, and the more likely they are to grant patents," the researchers report. ... > Patent examiners have an incentive to approve or reject a patent as quickly as they can. That's because every time they do, they get two "credits" that go toward a progression system that determines when they get promoted (and how much they make). One interesting feature of the progression system, though, is that as you rise in rank (from, say, a GS-7 to a GS-14) the amount of time you're expected to spend on each patent decreases.

Alex3917 8y ago

> The examiners don't get bonused on allowing patents. Yes, they do. They are paid based on how many patents they process, and it takes less hours to approve a patent than to reject one.

binarymax 8y ago
Citation please? I've never heard of any federal agency employee getting any kind of commission such as this.
- fjsolwmv 8y ago
  They get promoted for processing faster. That's equivalent to get paid per patent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31/inside-the-stressed-out-time-crunched-patent-examiner-workforce https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31...
- hedora 8y ago
  Not the best article to cite to make this point, but: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31/inside-the-stressed-out-time-crunched-patent-examiner-workforce/?noredirect=on https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31... > "Our data finds that as examiners are given less time to review applications, the less prior art they cite, the less likely they are to make time-consuming prior art rejections, and the more likely they are to grant patents," the researchers report. ... > Patent examiners have an incentive to approve or reject a patent as quickly as they can. That's because every time they do, they get two "credits" that go toward a progression system that determines when they get promoted (and how much they make). One interesting feature of the progression system, though, is that as you rise in rank (from, say, a GS-7 to a GS-14) the amount of time you're expected to spend on each patent decreases.