Over the past few years, the Patent Office has taken multiple initiatives – Track One examination, Accelerated Examination (AE), Full First Action Interview Pilot Program, and Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)– to combat application backlog and expedite patent examination procedure.
These accelerated programs, without doubt, speed up the prosecution process; however, they also increase the prosecution cost. Track 1, for example, leaves an additional $4,000 in your client’s metaphorical pocket to obtain a patent decision within 12 months.
Your client would feel great if you saved him from this cost escalation. You can save his $ 4,000 under Track-1 by revealing that the average grant time for that particular art unit is already 1 year, for example.
On the other hand, how would your client feel if you could save his 3.5 years? You can advise him that this particular art unit, on average, takes 4.5 years to reach a decision, and paying $4,000 for a 12-month consideration period may be the best investment that can be made, or at least an option.
Having such information at your disposal can help you stand apart from the crowd. It helps constitute a great client experience. In a few scenarios, you may have additional information you could suggest to your client to help them formulate a better strategy. For instance, if you have a Series C investment coming up, it might be a good idea to spend the extra money and get that patent granted. After all, patent portfolios have a significant impact on the valuation of companies.
You might be wondering – How could I get my hands on information like Which Art Unit takes how much time to grant, whether opting for Track 1 is a good option or not, et cetera. Let me tell you how.
Patent prosecution involves hundreds of critical decisions, such as which office actions to take, which arguments to make, and which claims to amend. We can help you with the process.
GreyB can help you build a smart patent prosecution strategy through its platform. It can help you maximize your chances of success and create a smart prosecution strategy tailor-made for any situation.
Still wondering how? Well, read on!
Comparative Statistics of Attorney Law Firms
This might be slightly off the theme, but if used strategically, then comparative statistics can also help you save time and money for your clients. This is a two-step process.
In the first step, you can use the Examiner Analytics to compare statistics of different law firms and benchmark yourself. For example, Laitram LLC has an average grant rate of 89%, which is significantly higher than those of Fitzpatrick Cella Harper & Scinto and Sughrue Mion PLLC.
In the next step, you can try to figure out the strategy that these law firms are following, for example, Laitram LLC in this case, and can incorporate them into yours to increase your success rate.
If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. ~ Sun Tzu
Compare Statistics of Different Art Units
In a similar fashion, you can also compare the statistics of different Group Art Units. For example, art unit GAU 3763 has an average grant time of 3.3 years per application. On the other hand, the average grant time for GAU 3764 is 2.6 years. Knowing these stats can make a ton of difference, as it can help formulate a prosecution strategy that saves time and money by prosecuting a patent in a particular art unit instead of another.
Apart from that, our Examiner Analytics platform offers additional interesting analyses. And every analysis contains an interactive graph detailing the statistics of examiners, GAUs, attorney law firms, and assignees.
These data trends are pivotal not only in gaining a competitive edge but also in demonstrating your unique selling points to clients. For example:
- You can use examiner trends to manage prospects.
- Prepare a budget based on the prediction of an examiner’s behavior.
- Analyze the portfolio of your key clients to identify their exorbitant attorney.
- Analyze the application portfolio your firm manages and identify where you are effective.
- Compare the portfolios of other competitive Law firms.
- Organize your resource allocation.
- Identify your potential clients for expansion.
Examiner Analysis proximity data trend would help you set client expectations, which even experienced prosecutors sometimes struggle with.
Having a prior understanding of these trends will help you elevate your clients’ experience. And we know that like us, one of your top priorities is creating an unforgettable client experience.
Authored By – Geetika Dube, Project Manager, Graphical Team