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patents.stackexchange is probably not the end source for them to base a decision on, but rather a place to find real sources of prior art for patent application
by awestroke 12y ago
patents.stackexchange is probably not the end source for them to base a decision on, but rather a place to find real sources of prior art for patent applications. So it seems very likely to me.
- DannyBee 12y agoPatent examiners are generally not allowed to search external sources for information about unpublished apps. I've had this discussion numerous times with examiners and PTO officials while working on improving prior art finding on google.com/patents. They have a very fixed number of sources they search, and are generally not allowed to search elsewhere with unpublished app info. So I can pretty much 100% guarantee you they are not searching patents.stackexchange for information. (Plus, patents.stackexchange themselves do not suggest examiners use it that way. They email examiners). For published apps (this was recently published), they are allowed to do more, but they generally don't anyway. They stick to the databases/etc that are available to them internally.