peer-to-patent

Peer-to-patent Australia

Ben McEniery from QUT has kindly provided an update on the completion of the Peer-to-patent Australia pilot:

The peer review phase of the inaugural Peer-to-Patent Australia pilot project is now complete. For those of you not familiar with the project, Peer-to-Patent Australia (www.peertopatent.org.au) is a web-based initiative aimed at supporting patent examination and improving the quality of issued patents in Australia. This is a joint project of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and IP Australia that was launched in December 2009. The project’s chief investigators are Professor Brian Fitzgerald and Ben McEniery.
The project is designed to prevent the grant of patents that do not satisfy the statutory requirements of novelty and inventiveness. It aims to achieve this goal by allowing members of the public to put forward prior art references to be considered by IP Australia’s patent examiners during patent examination. The object of the pilot is to test whether an open community of reviewers can uncover relevant prior art that might not otherwise be found by the patent office during a routine examination.
In all, 31 pending patent applications were reviewed by the community of peer reviewers during the six-month peer review phase. During that time, the community generated 106 prior art references in response to those applications. These prior art references will now be forwarded to IP Australia to be considered by the patent office in examination.
Peer-to-Patent Australia has now entered a six-month evaluation phase. During this phase, both IP Australia and QUT will evaluate the pilot’s success. The results of the pilot will be published in an anniversary report, which will be made available under a Creative Commons licence on the project website in December 2010. Any prior art submission applied in examination will be recognised in the ‘Prior Artist Awards’ section of the Peer-to-Patent Australia web site as information comes to hand.

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Peer to patent Down Under

The pilot project being run be QUT, with support from New York University Law School and IP Australia is nearing the end of its first phase: there are a number of applications open for review until 9 March 2010.

According to IP Australia

The pilot has made a successful start, following its launch in December 2009. The community of reviewers has identified 27 prior art references and contributed 57 comments in the first eight weeks of operation.

A second round of applications will be posted on the website at the conclusion of the first phase and IP Australia is now calling for nominations for potential candidates for review.

For more details and to register as a commenter, click here.

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Peer to patent Down Under

Ben McEniery from QUT writes advises that QUT is running a “peer to patent” pilot project modelled on those running through New York Law School and the JPO.

According to Ben:

Following on from the Peer-to-Patent projects run recently out of the New York Law School (NYLS) and the JPO comes Peer-to-Patent Australia (www.peertopatent.org.au). Peer-to-Patent Australia is a joint initiative of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and IP Australia that is designed to improve the patent examination process and the quality of issued patents. Peer-to-Patent Australia uses Web 2.0 technology to allow experts within the community to review participating patent applications and bring relevant prior art to the attention of IP Australia’s patent examiners.
The project is based on the successful Peer-to-Patent projects run out of the New York Law School (NYLS) in the United States and is the result of the collaborative efforts between QUT and NYLS. The project will initially run as a six-month pilot that will focus on the rapidly advancing technology areas of business methods and computer software. Up to 40 business method, computer software and related patent applications that have been filed in Australia and which are open for public inspection will each be posted on the Peer-to-Patent Australia website for a 90-day period. During that time, members of community can review those applications, submit prior art references and comment on the relevance of any prior art that has been put forward.
At the end of the review period, Peer-to-Patent Australia will forward the top 10 prior art submissions for each application, as selected by the community of reviewers, to IP Australia for consideration in the examination process. The review process in no way abrogates the responsibility of the patent examiner to assess a patent application. Prior art submitted by Peer-to-Patent Australia is solely designed to assist a patent examiner, who remains the arbiter of whether a patent is to be granted.
There are currently 15 patent applications from seven companies open for review. The participating companies include IBM, Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited, General Electric Company, Hewlett-Packard, Residex Pty Ltd, Yahoo and CSIRO.
Since the focus of the pilot is on business methods and related applications, there is an interesting array of new ideas and technologies in the applications that are open for review. Those applications include methods, systems and apparatus for:
– converting a decimal number to a binary representation based on processor size;
– detecting behavioural patterns related to the financial health of a business entity;
– an arrangement where a customer enters into an agreement with a lender to share equity in real estate property;
– efficient cooling of server farms;
– refining mobile device search results using location modifiers;
– integrating browsing histories with media playlists on a media playback device;
– interactive specification of context-sensitive service level agreements;
– controlling a network of trains; and
– gaming machine systems and methods.
Those wishing to review participating patent applications can register at: www.peertopatent.org.au.

Following on from the Peer-to-Patent projects run recently out of the New York Law School (NYLS) and the JPO comes Peer-to-Patent Australia. Peer-to-Patent Australia is a joint initiative of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and IP Australia that is designed to improve the patent examination process and the quality of issued patents. Peer-to-Patent Australia uses Web 2.0 technology to allow experts within the community to review participating patent applications and bring relevant prior art to the attention of IP Australia’s patent examiners.

The project is based on the successful Peer-to-Patent projects run out of the New York Law School (NYLS) in the United States and is the result of the collaborative efforts between QUT and NYLS. The project will initially run as a six-month pilot that will focus on the rapidly advancing technology areas of business methods and computer software. Up to 40 business method, computer software and related patent applications that have been filed in Australia and which are open for public inspection will each be posted on the Peer-to-Patent Australia website for a 90-day period. During that time, members of community can review those applications, submit prior art references and comment on the relevance of any prior art that has been put forward.

At the end of the review period, Peer-to-Patent Australia will forward the top 10 prior art submissions for each application, as selected by the community of reviewers, to IP Australia for consideration in the examination process. The review process in no way abrogates the responsibility of the patent examiner to assess a patent application. Prior art submitted by Peer-to-Patent Australia is solely designed to assist a patent examiner, who remains the arbiter of whether a patent is to be granted.

There are currently 15 patent applications from seven companies open for review. The participating companies include IBM, Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Limited, General Electric Company, Hewlett-Packard, Residex Pty Ltd, Yahoo and CSIRO.

Since the focus of the pilot is on business methods and related applications, there is an interesting array of new ideas and technologies in the applications that are open for review. Those applications include methods, systems and apparatus for:

  • converting a decimal number to a binary representation based on processor size;
  • detecting behavioural patterns related to the financial health of a business entity;
  • an arrangement where a customer enters into an agreement with a lender to share equity in real estate property;
  • efficient cooling of server farms;
  • refining mobile device search results using location modifiers;
  • integrating browsing histories with media playlists on a media playback device;
  • interactive specification of context-sensitive service level agreements;
  • controlling a network of trains; and
  • gaming machine systems and methods.

Those wishing to review participating patent applications can read more and register here.

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