Patent Office Reduces Backlog on Business Method Patents

According to one USPTO insider, the Patent Office has significantly reduced their backlog for the examination of business method patent applications.  Two years ago, the PTO was six years behind in examining business method patent applications.  This dreadful backlog raised questions about their relevancy and whether an inventor should even bother filing a business method application.  To address this backlog problem, the Patent Office hired several new examiners in the business methods art units.   As a result of this influx of new hires, the backlog has been reduced to less than three months.

Rumor has it that the Director of business methods is in hot water because he had over-hired examiners in that art.  Apparently, there are now so few business method cases per examiner that they are resorting to transferring mechanical cases onto their docket.  Well, at least inventors can now have their business method applications examined promptly.