SBIR Phase II: Patent End-To-End (PE2E) Examination

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is directed to developing Patent End-To-End (PE2E) application examination capabilities that utilize cloud-enabled software services to enable the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to collaboratively examine patent applications with enhanced validation, search, and office action support, resulting in higher quality and lower pendency. PE2E objectives include support for formalities review, search planning, annotation/collaboration, and office action formulation. The outcome of this investigation would potentially shift the way in which intellectual property is examined; providing examiners with tools to more deeply understand patent applications, collaboratively research prior art, and more easily document their assessments of the application prior art. The U.S. economy relies heavily and increasingly upon intellectual property, and patents are one currency of this economy. As patents become more significant in the operations and outcome of U.S. businesses, it becomes increasingly important to assure that the patent examination system delivers high quality and timely examinations in order to support the next-generation of innovations. If successfully-deployed the proposed innovation has the potential to make a significant positive impact upon the US patent and trademark landscape.