In summarizing two earlier reports the Government
Accountability Office has again called for improvements to
the management of Patent Office automation and to address
workforce challenges.
It said annual applications have grown from about 185,000 to
over 350,000 over ten years and are expected to top 450,000
by 2009.
Compounding the problem is a backlog of about 750,000
applications and difficulty attracting and retaining qualified
staff to process applications, according to GAO-05-1008T.
It said that after spending over $1 billion on its efforts
from 1983 through 2004 the agency has yet deliver a fully
integrated electronic patent process, and “when and how it
will achieve this process is uncertain.”
Further, GAO said key systems the agency is relying on to
reach this goal such as an electronic application filing
system and a document imaging system, “have not provided
capabilities that are essential to operating in a fully
electronic environment.”
“Contributing to this situation is the agency’s ineffective
planning for and management of its patent automation
initiatives, due in large measure to enterprise-level,
systemic weaknesses in its IT investment management processes,”
said GAO.
It said that although the agency has started putting an
enterprise architecture framework in place, it has yet to
finalize a capital planning and investment control process
or link the process to its architecture, something needed to
guide IT development and implementation.