From IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Online: June 2007
"On 15 June, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) opened the patent examination process for online public participation for the first time.With the consent of the inventor, the Peer-to-Patent: Community Patent Reviewpilot, developed by the New York Law School Institute for Information Law andPolicy in cooperation with the USPTO, will enable the public to submit prior artand commentary relevant to the claims of 250 pending patent applications inComputer Architecture, Software and Information Security (TC2100). This historicinitiative connects an open network of community input to the legaldecision-making process. Peer-to-Patent involves 1) review and discussion ofposted patent applications, 2) research to locate prior art references 3)uploading prior art references relevant to the claims, 4) annotating andevaluating submitted prior art, and 5) top ten references, along withcommentary, forwarded to the USPTO. The goal of the pilot is to prove thatorganized public participation can improve the quality of issued patents.Participation is open to the public -- members of the scientific community areespecially encouraged to participate by becoming a reviewer, a patentapplication facilitator, or providing a qualified patent application for openreview in the pilot."
Peer-to-Patent was also featured in the IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Online MarchIssue (03.07 The Perspiration of Patenthood http://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/6475/101653)
