Sentences with phrase «public scrutiny prior»

Not exact matches

«If the Conservatives are genuinely committed to not for profit education then they should, now, prior to the General Election, open up the books of the multi academy chains to public scrutiny, a facility so far denied to Ofsted and the Public Accounts Committee.&public scrutiny, a facility so far denied to Ofsted and the Public Accounts Committee.&Public Accounts Committee.»

, the process has the patent office submitting about 250 applications in various computer fields to the scrutiny of the public, the thought being that the relevant communities will know more than the patent examiners about such critical matters as «prior art.»

In recent years, the USPTO has come under increasing scrutiny over the quality of its patent examinations.1 The growing push for reform of the patent system is fueled by the rapid rise of technology, financial services, telecommunications, and other innovations driving the information economy, all straining the USPTO's ability to evaluate and issue quality patents.2 Problems with patent quality occur when the Patent Office grants patents on claims that are broader than what is merited by the invention and the prior art. 3 In fact, a number of these problematic patents have been issued and publicized to much fanfare, including the infamous Smuckers» peanut butter and jelly patent where the company asserted a patent on their method of making the UncrustiblesTM crust-less peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, among others.4 These «bad» or improvidently granted patents impact the USPTO's ability to promote overall patent quality which, I will show, has serious implications for the public domain.

With the conference at Santa Clara, public participation in finding prior art and learning about the patent process on AskPatents, and continued legislative scrutiny of our patent system via the SHIELD Act, perhaps critics of software patents and troll proliferation will receive more than a lump of coal this holiday season.