There is tremendous variability within the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in terms of how each of the individual 8,000+ patent examiners treats an application and the inconsistency of allowance rates within similar art units. Similar art units can have as much as 50 percent variability* in allowance, leaving patent prosecutors to wonder how likely is this patent to issue, what will be the cost of this patent issuing and how long is it… Continue Reading