Interviewing with the patent examiner can provide many benefits to your clients. Oral communication is much more efficient than written communication. As a result, you can often cover more ground in a 30-minute interview than you can in months of prosecution.
Moreover, during a patent examiner interview, you get immediate feedback from the examiner. Listening to this feedback will help you hone your arguments on the fly. You can throw out arguments that have no traction with examiners while focusing on those that appeal to them.
You can also get a better feel for the examiner’s concerns. The MPEP gives examiners form paragraphs to use in office actions. These often do not illuminate the examiner’s specific problems with the invention or the claim language. Through careful questioning and active listening, you and the examiner can focus on the exact problems at issue in the office action.
Your conversation with the examiner might also yield information you might not otherwise obtain. For example, you might discover that the examiner misunderstood your claims or misinterpreted the prior art, which you could then work to clarify. Alternatively , the interview might reveal that the examiner had a clear understanding of your claims and the prior art, but is unwilling to budge from his or her position no matter what arguments you present. You would go on to address these different outcomes through two very different courses of action. You can determine whether further prosecution before the examiner is worthwhile or appeal is necessary simply by talking to the examiner.
Every patent attorney uses a different strategy for conducting examiner interviews. Here is a countdown of five tips to consider as you develop your interview strategy.
Tip #5: Figure Out What You’re Going to Say
When you draft an office action response, you spend time sharpening your amendments and arguments. You should take the same approach when you prepare for a patent examiner interview.
Examiners will usually only grant one interview, so you should not waste your opportunity. More importantly, under the MPEP, interviews for “sounding out” the examiner are prohibited. When you and your client discuss the possibility of interviewing the case, you should have specific issues you want to discuss with the examiner and a clear goal.
You may have heard or read anecdotes about patent lawyers who get good outcomes while improvising during interviews. This strategy is probably not the best use of your time, the examiner’s time, and your client’s resources. Instead, have a game plan for what you will say and how you will say it.
Tip #4: Get the Right People in the Interview
There is nothing more frustrating than preparing your amendments, arguing your case to the patent examiner during an interview and reaching an agreement with the patent examiner about the amendments, only to have the examiner pull the rug from under you with another office action. Or, worse yet, to come out of an interview agreeing with the examiner, only to have your client overrule it.
Such misunderstandings happen because the interview lacked the people critical to the decision-making process.
On the patent office side, the necessity of on-the-job training for new examiners results in layers of checks. At a minimum, you should politely inquire if a primary examiner should attend the interview when you schedule it. Just beware that some examiners might take offense, so approach delicately.
On your side, you must make a prudent and deliberate decision whether to include the inventor and a representative for your client (if the inventor is not your client). Some advantages of having the inventor and client include:
- Someone on your side can immediately approve the examiner’s amendments
- Your client hears what happened rather than receiving a summary from you
- The inventor can explain the invention and the prior art
- Your client feels involved
Conversely, having your client in the interview poses some risks, including:
- Your client can inadvertently make admissions adverse to your case
- The inventor might take the examiner’s rejections personally, and tensions may rise
- The client might waste your interview time talking about irrelevant issues
Having the right people in the interview on both sides can facilitate an agreement, but only if they can work collaboratively and not start a confrontation. Remember that a patent examiner interview is not an adversarial process. If the inventor and client attend, make sure they understand that persuasion, not confrontation, during the interview will likely be the easiest path to allowance.
Tip #3: Make an Agenda
The interview request form and patent examiner interview best practices suggest that you identify the issues you want to discuss during the interview. You should consider going beyond this by creating an agenda to will lay out each topic you wish to discuss with the examiner.
Many examiners ask for an agenda when you schedule the interview. You could share your complete agenda with the examiner, or keep your detailed agenda for yourself and instead provide an outline.
In either case, providing the patent examiner with an agenda will help you in a few ways:
- The examiner has a roadmap, so you can move from issue to issue efficiently
- You make sure you cover all the points you want to raise without leaving anything out
- The examiner has a preview of your interview topics, allowing them to prepare to respond to, or even concede specific points, so that the interview proceeds more smoothly
When you create your agenda, you should also consider including proposed amendments, as this will give the examiner something concrete to consider. Rather than talking in abstractions about the claims, you can point to specific proposed language for discussion. Providing the examiner with your proposed revisions further demonstrates your willingness to work with him or her to reach allowance, and invites the examiner to propose language as well.
The last two points on your agenda can then consist of:
- A discussion about whether the proposed amendments will result in an allowance of the case. This is also an opportunity to record proposed amendments that could lead to allowance.
- A discussion of whether there are any additional issues, arguments, or amendments to be addressed
Remember, examiners work with hundreds of cases and thousands of claims every year. Diligent examiners often have suggestions that not only help you secure allowance, but improve your patent application.
You should approach the interview as a two-way communication rather than simply your opportunity to present your case to the examiner. In at least some cases, the examiner will help you on your path to allowance. Most importantly, when an examiner makes a suggestion, and you incorporate it into the claims, the examiner is much more likely to agree that your amendment moves the case forward.
Tip #2: Begin Conceptually
At the beginning of your patent examiner interview, try to identify the broad issues in the office action. One way to do this is to have a conceptual discussion about the prior art and the invention.
Summarize your understanding of the prior art and see if the examiner’s understanding matches. If the examiner has a different interpretation of the prior art, you may be able to address at least some grounds for rejection by persuading the examiner of your interpretation.
Keep in mind that because examiners have an enormous workload, they may not always have your client’s invention clear in their heads when you start an interview. Discussing the concept behind the invention can help get the examiner in the right mindset for the rest of the interview.
Tip #1: Close Concretely
Have a goal in mind before you start the interview. Try to close in a way that makes clear whether you reached your goal. Remember, closing concretely does not necessarily mean that you always win. Rather, it means that when you close, you know whether you reached an agreement and, which direction you and your client should go, if you have not.
For example, imagine you have a prior art rejection under §102 that you believe your proposed amendments should successfully overcome. Several outcomes are in fact possible at the end of the interview:
- The examiner agrees that your amendments overcome the rejection.
- The examiner agrees the invention is distinguishable but disagrees that your amended claims distinguish over the reference.
- The examiner agrees your amendments overcome a §102 rejection but switches to a §103 rejection.
- The examiner believes the invention is not novel given the prior art. No claim amendments can overcome the rejection.
Each of these outcomes is acceptable. You know where you stand with the examiner, and you can advise your client about what to do next.
What you want to avoid is ending the interview without a clear understanding of where the case stands. It may take some cajoling to pin the examiner down, but try to reach a concrete conclusion.
A “Good” Patent Examiner Interview
A good interview moves your case forward. That movement could be an agreement or just a better understanding of where your case stands. You can use interviews to benefit your clients and keep their cases progressing by:
- having a plan
- getting the right people in the interview
- following an agenda
- opening conceptually
- closing concretely
Keep leveling up your patent prosecution practice! Take a look at 3 Obvious Mistakes to Avoid when Responding to Office Actions!
Disclaimer – “The statements and views expressed in this posting are my own and do not reflect those of my law firm, are intended for general informational purposes only, and do not constitute legal advice or a legal opinion.”
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