Patent Office RTO Predictions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They dropped the hammer. Anyone not covered by a CBA is being brought back. Three categories (1) people who currently have offices must back 5 days a week starting Monday; (2) people who live within 50 miles of a PTO facility (as the crow flies, commuting distance may be longer), will get an office this month and will have to stop any telework within 5 days of that; and (3) anyone who lives outside the 50 mile radius will be assigned an office in a federal building (not clear if that has to be within 50 miles of your home), and will have to report there with 5 days of the assignment.

This only “works” because 75% of the workforce isn’t covered because of CBAs. Honestly, this is madness

Are you willing to post the exact language? I'm surprised they covered remote employees more than 50 miles away. There's no system or process in place for working in other agency spaces.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have nowhere to put people

This excuse isn’t going to fly. Sorry.

You sound just as smart as the Muskox bunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They dropped the hammer. Anyone not covered by a CBA is being brought back. Three categories (1) people who currently have offices must back 5 days a week starting Monday; (2) people who live within 50 miles of a PTO facility (as the crow flies, commuting distance may be longer), will get an office this month and will have to stop any telework within 5 days of that; and (3) anyone who lives outside the 50 mile radius will be assigned an office in a federal building (not clear if that has to be within 50 miles of your home), and will have to report there with 5 days of the assignment.

This only “works” because 75% of the workforce isn’t covered because of CBAs. Honestly, this is madness

Are you willing to post the exact language? I'm surprised they covered remote employees more than 50 miles away. There's no system or process in place for working in other agency spaces.

My agency said the same thing which basically means to report after being ordered to an office. Your agency has to figure that out before ordering you to a federal office so likely to take time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m an examiner on the Trademark side. I’m incredibly grateful to be covered by a CBA, but I feel for all my colleagues who aren’t. Our agency is one that actually works really well remotely. Unfortunately, this issue doesn’t even crack the top 100 of all issues I am worried about with this administration.

All that notice said was that it's not for CBA people. CBA workers still don't have official notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

Realistically that would just turn into granting every complete patent application and letting courts sort it out later. That would be terrible, so it will probably happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

I wonder what sort of nonsense an AI examiner would hallucinate? As a patent practitioner, at least I might find it amusing appealing something like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

I wonder what sort of nonsense an AI examiner would hallucinate? As a patent practitioner, at least I might find it amusing appealing something like that.

It would certainly make for interesting work for us on the ex parte appeals.

A reasonable case could be made that we should move to a system where you have to request examination, and that you would have to do so before bringing suit under the patent. That would me that only commercially important patents would be examined, and would hopefully result in more thorough examinations, as the Examiners would have (much) more time to search and examine each case on their docket. But that - in a normal world at least - would require legislative change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

I wonder what sort of nonsense an AI examiner would hallucinate? As a patent practitioner, at least I might find it amusing appealing something like that.

We've received responses from attorneys that must have been made using AI. It makes up case law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would suck for all primary examiners.

[Anonymous]

I’ve tried using AI to find prior art. It sucks at it. Completely incapable. Even more incapable is its ability to make invalidity arguments about never before seen claims.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Email from POPA says examiners are safe to continue work from home.

But supervisors are screwed?

Supervisors and anyone non-bargaining, like OGC, OCFO, etc.

Yes, we're screwed.

And we take zero appropriated funds. So you're saving exactly nothing by doing this and if/when people leave.

+1 Most Americans don't know that USPTO is fully funded by fees for patents and trademarks. No tax dollars, at all.

This is going to have a disastrous impact on American IP even if it's non-bargaining employees required to RTO. It's hard enough to recruit talent leaders in any position. Think about IT and cybersecurity positions.

Pretty sure Leon plans to RIF most feds anyway and replace them with AI. PTO examiners who stare at computers all day reviewing seem like a prime target for AI replacement.

That would be a hell of an AI system

I wonder what sort of nonsense an AI examiner would hallucinate? As a patent practitioner, at least I might find it amusing appealing something like that.

We've received responses from attorneys that must have been made using AI. It makes up case law.

I worked at the PTO as a trademark examiner over 15 years ago. We had to learn keyboard codes connected to different sentences and paragraphs that would write the letters. We were not allowed to draft the letters ourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve tried using AI to find prior art. It sucks at it. Completely incapable. Even more incapable is its ability to make invalidity arguments about never before seen claims.

AI pimps swear it can do everything. They’re full of shite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They dropped the hammer. Anyone not covered by a CBA is being brought back. Three categories (1) people who currently have offices must back 5 days a week starting Monday; (2) people who live within 50 miles of a PTO facility (as the crow flies, commuting distance may be longer), will get an office this month and will have to stop any telework within 5 days of that; and (3) anyone who lives outside the 50 mile radius will be assigned an office in a federal building (not clear if that has to be within 50 miles of your home), and will have to report there with 5 days of the assignment.

This only “works” because 75% of the workforce isn’t covered because of CBAs. Honestly, this is madness

Are you willing to post the exact language? I'm surprised they covered remote employees more than 50 miles away. There's no system or process in place for working in other agency spaces.

My agency said the same thing which basically means to report after being ordered to an office. Your agency has to figure that out before ordering you to a federal office so likely to take time.

Commerce is not finding office space for the employees outside the 50 mile radius. The DOGE usurpers at GAO are doing it, and we are told it will happen pretty fast.