12:01 Tuesday

Last Day of Enforceability for Patent 4,xxx,xxx

Today marks the end of the four millions.

U.S. Patent No. 4,997,100 Unitary biological specimen processing apparatus Inventor: Peter P. Dudek Issued: March 5, 1991 Filed: August 31, 1990 Abstract: A Unitary biological processing apparatus for processing specimens therein is described wherein a perforated receptacle member with two arc shaped abutment means and a third hook shaped abutment means is attached through a frangible hinge portion to a perforated lid member with two arc shaped detent means at the two edges of the lid member which are perpendicular to the lid member edge extending along the hinge portion, and a third detent means engageable with the hook shaped abutment means. When the lid member is swung about the hinge the arc shaped engagement means become engaged even before the lid member mates against the receptacle member and the two arc shaped engagement means provide with the third engagement means a three-point lock of the lid member onto the receptacle member

You can check for yourself, or you can take my word for it: any other patent under 5,000,000 is either: a) 20 years past its earliest priority date; or b) expired for failure to pay maintenance fees. (And every patent under 5,000,000 is more than seventeen years past issuance.)

Challenge: When will the last of the 5,000,000s expire? I suspect that PTE (which was not applicable to the 4,000,000s) may cause major headaches in determining the answer.

Old Becomes New in 2010

Are we starting to see some evidence of President Obama's promised Transparency?

Consider the following odd statistic: 

• Number of patents to issue in 2010 (so far) with prosecution histories of more than 20 years: 10
• Number of patents to issue in 2009 with prosecution histories of more than 20 years: 0
• ,,,in 2008: 4
  
• ,,,in 2007: 3
  

The 2010 patents are shown in the chart below.

 

As you might expect, most of these patents (the longest seven on the list) were subject to secrecy orders in the name of national security that delayed their prosecution and issuance by many years. (Two of the other three patents were involved in long interference battles, and the last one on the list was simply unintentionally abandoned for several years.)

Why the vast difference between 2010 and 2009 (and the previous two years)? One theory is that, under the Obama administration and its promise "to usher in a new era of open government," the secrecy orders on older patent applications were reviewed with a new eye toward transparency, resulting in lifting more confidentiality restrictions than had previously been done. The timing would fit: if the secrecy orders were lifted during Obama's first year in office -- 2009 -- then after a few months of resumed prosecution and preparation for publication, the patents would issue in 2010. Makes sense.

But like many nice theories, it's unfortunately not supported by the facts. In actuality, only one of these patents, 7,673,565, had its secrecy order rescinded in 2009. In fact, the oldest patent on the list, 7,696,460, was declassified in 2000 under Clinton. The others came out of hiding between 2005-2008, during the "secretive" George W. Bush presidency.

For now, we'll just chalk this up to coincidence and randomness. But if someone out there has a better theory, please share.