Patent application review is an integral part of the examination procedures undertaken by patent offices before a patent grant is given. Prior art search is a complex and time consuming part of this process. Crowdsourcing this critical stage is a valuable opportunity to render the traditional patent application review process more efficient by separating the stage of prior art search from the patent grant procedure.
This article briefly describes the crowdsourcing phenomenon and then details how it can aid patent review. The open source review pilot projects of the USPTO and JPO are presented in order to assess the potential of opening prior art search to a wider community of experts and practitioners. Public-private partnerships between patent offices and companies managing online review communities are proposed as an opportunity to leverage the benefits of open review while providing sufficient incentives and quality assurances to yield useful contributions.
To read the full, original article click on this link: How to Improve Patent Quality by Using Crowd Sourcing | InnovationManagement
Author:Roya Ghafele
