At some point in time in the not too distant future, the USPTO will grant U.S. Patent No. 10,000,000. That’s a nice round number, but we just crossed the nine million threshold with the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 9,000,000 on April 7, 2015. At this pace, the ten million threshold will come sometime in June 2018.
Why even think about U.S. Patent No. 10,000,000 at this time? The simple answer is because it will add one more digit – an eighth digit – to utility patent numbers. Since the dawn of the computer age, computer systems have handled only 7 digit patent numbers. Without deliberate consideration and action, moving to an eighth digit may not be as smooth a transition as you may want to believe.
Obviously, adding an eighth digit to U.S. utility patent numbers is far narrower than the Y2K challenge. Yet, in order to keep the 8th digit issue from becoming a bigger challenge than it needs to be, some action does need to be taken soon. Many changes required will only affect the way patent numbers are displayed or printed. They might truncate the first or last digit in some cases or visually corrupt surrounding data in forms. In other cases, search results might be affected or listed in unexpected ways. Some software might even confuse US application numbers (currently 8 digits) and patent numbers (currently 7 digits) based on length.
It may be difficult to believe, but the USPTO computer systems have a long history of being technically inadequate. Over recent years the monumental task of updating and enhancing the computer systems has been undertaken. The office has made exceptional strides in stabilizing their technology infrastructure, but is the USPTO ready for U.S. Patent No. 10,000,000? Even given the positive steps forward by the IT department at the USPTO, some systems may prove difficult to update without applying considerable time or resources.
Determining the scope of this issue requires attention in the very near future. That determination should reveal the number of systems needing remediation and facilitate planning for how to properly resource the changes required. Commercial IP service or content providers may have the same challenges facing them and they too should begin an analysis.
The USPTO – as this nation’s innovation agency – should get in front of this issue and not be caught off guard by what the future will inevitably bring. Ensuring a smooth transition to a system that will soon require an eighth digit should be high on the priority list and should commence soon, if it is not already well underway.
Tags: patent, Patent Office, patents, USPTO
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