Inspired by a listener’s question, Megan does a deep dive into art unit 3649: the “pro se” art unit. The USPTO created this art unit in 2015 to help guide pro se applicants—those who choose to represent themselves before the USPTO—through the p

#56: Put the "Lawyer" Back in Patent Lawyer

Jan 21st, 2019 22m 58s

Patent practitioners typically turn to prosecution analytics to help them prosecute more efficiently. With the rise of fixed fees and a clientele that is constantly demanding more for less, there is significant pressure to complete tasks more q

#55: Win the Patent Examiner Lottery

Nov 19th, 2018 21m 50s

Megan reminds leaders about the new proprietary metric, ETA (Examiner Time Allocation) and introduces two new deeper dive metrics. Before you file, these metrics will give you an understanding of your chances of "winning the examiner lottery" t

#54: Shades of Red

Nov 13th, 2018 25m 11s

Megan talks about deciding how to respond to a first office action. She discusses how the way you would respond to an office action without data can very often be different from the way you might respond with data.

#53: A Patent Examiner's Take on ETA

Nov 5th, 2018 26m 10s

In this episode, former patent Examiner Josh Rudawitz joins Megan to discuss the rationale behind ETA, PatentAdvisor's proprietary metric for examiner behavior. Josh weighs in on some of the reasons for ETA variations, both among and within art

#52: Inside Scoop with Former Patent Examiner Joshua Rudawitz

Oct 29th, 2018 21m 37s

Megan interviews patent attorney Josh Rudawitz about his experience as a patent examiner. Josh discusses his career path at the USPTO and shares valuable insights about the level of autonomy granted to examiners at various points in their caree

#51: Halloween: Be Very Afraid

Oct 22nd, 2018 19m 15s

In this Halloween-themed episode, Megan addresses situations in a prosecution that should make your hair stand on end. When something just doesn’t seem right, there may be a good reason to be afraid and take a deeper dive into the statistics. T

#50: Nintendo Goes Green

Oct 15th, 2018 19m 41s

Nintendo's IP portfolio is full of colorful patents--ranging from banana rubbing to rigging Mario Kart races. But equally interesting (at least, for patent data nerds) is the high percentage of applications that landed with green examiners. "Gr

#49: Patent Prosecution Trainwreck

Oct 8th, 2018 20m 1s

Megan reviews one of the longest prosecution histories recorded in public PAIR, for application number 05/849,812. Prosecution for application number 05/849,812 has spanned over 40 years, 19 Office Actions, and 7 appeals. For at least the past

#48: ETA: The Ultimate Alarm System

Oct 1st, 2018 21m 4s

Megan revisits the revolutionary metric for examiner behavior: ETA (Examiner Time Allocation). Although this new way of examining examiners has caught on quickly—and even inspired a few copycats—it has also sparked a lot of debate. In this epis

#47 Patent Analytics: Table Stakes for Law Firms

Aug 6th, 2018 19m 29s

An interview with Ken Gemmill, Business Operations Manager for LexisNexis IP. In his career, Ken has witnessed the birth of analytics entering the patent business. He routinely speaks with law firms that are using analytics in their patent pros

#46 Troubled Patents: Should We Get Aggressive or Give Up?

Jul 30th, 2018 21m 59s

When is it time to use the appeal process or take some other extraordinary action after a final rejection has been issued? This episode discusses the key role of patent analytics in moving you from a position of guessing your next step to one o

#45: Patent Data Comparisons: Am I Better Than You?

Jun 25th, 2018 19m 53s

This episode covers the concept of the "alignment report," a software tool for determining whether a company or law firm's prosecution performance is in line with what is normal at the USPTO. As Megan discusses the goals and potential pitfalls

44: Can I Please Get A New Patent Examiner?

Jun 18th, 2018 24m 4s

Megan discusses the challenges of getting a new examiner by filing a continuation application. In spite of the difficulties, this strategy has worked for some attorneys with the right tools—including LexisNexis PathWays™. PathWays predicts whic

#43: Zynga and the Impact of Classification

Jun 4th, 2018 21m 9s

Megan reviews the prosecution history and examiner statistics for U.S. Patent No. 8,272,961, a patent owned by gaming giant Zynga. The patent covers a broad range of online gameplay but was issued surprisingly quickly. However, even more intere

#42: Prosecution Patterns with Professor Tu

May 29th, 2018 26m 47s

Professor Sean Tu returns to talk to Megan about his research into what drives examiner behavioral patterns. His previous research revealed pockets of fast-moving and slow-moving examiners, but now he aims to answer the question "how are applic

#41: Naughty Words in Pre-Grant Documents

May 21st, 2018 14m 58s

Megan searches through image file wrapper documents for oddities ranging from typographical errors to name-calling. Have you ever wondered how many times applicants lost their temper with the examiner on the record? Which art units issue the mo

#40: Top 5 Audibles in Patent Prosecution

May 14th, 2018 20m 21s

Megan pinpoints 5 prosecution scenarios where a strategy change may be necessary in light of the statistics. Like football, prosecution is a back-and-forth between the examiner and the applicant that requires constant reevaluation. For example,

#39: Experience Matters More Than You Think

May 7th, 2018 18m 25s

Megan discusses the importance of examiner experience in shaping prosecution strategy. Experience level is one of the factors in the calculation of ETA, PatentAdvisor’s proprietary metric that predicts the probability and difficulty of allowanc

#38: Analytics Behind "Stupid Patent of the Month" Blog

Apr 30th, 2018 22m 32s

Megan dives into the prosecution histories of several patents featured on the "Stupid Patent of the Month" blog. The blog was created before Alice to shine the spotlight on (arguably) overbroad software patents, but even after Alice the authors

#37: The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis: Book Review

Mar 5th, 2018 18m 14s

Megan discusses the sequel to Moneyball, in which Michael Lewis points out flaws in human decision-making that have applicability to patent prosecution. Like most experts, patent practitioners have inherent biases that can negatively impact the

#36 Birth of the Ultimate Metric

Feb 26th, 2018 20m 3s

Megan introduces a revolutionary way of measuring patent examiner behavior: ETA (Examiner Time Allocation). Unlike allowance rate, ETA provides an estimate of both the chances of and time to allowance. And because it is based solely upon the ex

Jan 8th, 2018 16m 38s

This episode evaluates the current status of bitcoin-related patent filings at the USPTO. Attention is also given to a proposed strategy for identifying pockets of art units in the patent office where a particular technology of interest might b

#34 Impact of Crazy Christmas Patents

Jan 2nd, 2018 15m 46s

This episode looks at the history of a patent granted for a device intended to detect when Santa Claus is entering a house by way of the chimney. Some time is also given to a discussion about whether patents in the silly category are good or ba

#33 Taking Ownership of Your Patent Portfolio

Dec 22nd, 2017 53m 44s

A rebroadcast of a recent webinar with Eric Zaiser, Patent Counsel at Google. Eric discusses thinking through the issues involved with balancing your relationship with outside counsel while taking ownership of strategic decisions related to you