Examiner Interviews
One tool for advancing a case quickly: The in-person examiner interview. An examiner interview gives the inventor/applicant an opportunity to express their passion for the technology, demonstrate the invention, and better understand the examiner’s concerns. Examiners also conduct interviews by phone or by web meetings. Interviews can be requested as a matter of right before a final office action, but if after, only at the discretion of the examiner.
In an application for a Method for Microbial Prototyping, the examiner removed a patent eligibility rejection after several examiner interviews and subsequent amendments. As a result of the interviews and the information obtained during those meetings, the case was allowed a little over one year from the first substantive office action.
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