The BPTO wants to approve all patent applications with preliminary office actions later this year

In a statement, the BPTO made the following clarifications on the reduction of the publication of patent applications with preliminary requirements (6.21 and 6.22):

• Publication 6.21 is primarily made by division heads and, therefore, there is no correlation between its reduction and a possible increase in the number of publications 6.1, 7.1, 9.1 and 9.2;
• The departure of outsourced workers impacted the number of publications, as they helped at the formal stages of the publication;
• The number of publications differs by technology, some of which are difficult to transfer to other areas, such as telecommunications;
• Publications 6.22 are made by examiners and chronologically.
• By the end of August, there were 19,479 applications suitable for examination, 5,100 at ANVISA (Brazilian Health Surveillance Agency), and 5,377 at a formal stage.
• The BPTO aspires to approve all publications 6.21 and 6.22 still in 2020. The filings originated from these publications, which will suffer the impact of the suspension of deadlines until September, will guide alternatives for the “backlog of the 6.21 responses”.