<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>I just had a little time to think away from the computer...</div><div><br></div><div>ANALOGY. If you had a really bad examiner, you wouldn't expect to write to the Director to intervene in one patent application. She delegates, and it's up to the delegees in the chain, down to the examiner, to follow the relevant instructions. On the other hand, if there's something systemic, some repeated endemic problem, THAT we'd write to the Director to get THAT changed, right?</div><div><br></div><div>I think it's same here. Director Vidal and IG Gustafson won't be able to do much about individual bugs in Patent Center. That's up to the PTO's IT staff (and as Carl found with his meeting with Udupa, individual bugs get swatted away like flies). I think you have to make the case of systemic failure. Obviously systemic patterns are made up of individual instances, so you have to do that too, but the core of the issue -- and what makes this hard -- is that to get the Director's or IG's attention, you have to show a pattern.</div><div><br></div><div>So if you write about a single bug, I think you have to add some additional discussion to make it a systemic issue, not a point issue. One way to do that is to tie your individual bug as a symptom of one of the patterns in one of the letters in the list from an hour ago.<br></div><div><br></div><div>At Inspector General, the jurisdictional remit is "waste, fraud, abuse, and gross mismanagement." <a href="https://www.oig.doc.gov/Pages/default.aspx">https://www.oig.doc.gov/Pages/default.aspx</a> So use those magic words liberally.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 2:03\u202fPM David Boundy <<a href="mailto:DavidBoundyEsq@gmail.com">DavidBoundyEsq@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>You file it at <a href="https://www.govcomhotline.com/DOC1" target="_blank">https://www.govcomhotline.com/DOC1</a> </div><div><br></div><div>For these letters, quality is more important than quantity. Some degree of genuine analysis, fact, citation, etc is important (if your letter is too flimsy, IG will just ignore it). This is something only for the internally-self-motivated -- all you will get directly is an email "Thank you so much, we have forwarded your concerns to the agency, and your complaint number is 23-4567." You will get no direct instant gratification from the IG. But at some point, the agency will have to write a response, and the IG will read that carefully, and the IG report will flag your concern and you will get some kind of an answer.</div><div><br></div><div>I know the PTO already has five complaints. If they get more, it will make it really hard for them to decommission EFS-Web before Patent Center is really good and ready.<br></div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2">I name the "violating party" as "Patent and Trademark Office, IT Office." You don't have to fill in every blank.</font></div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2">The important thing is credibility and sound analysis -- make a genuine effort to demonstrate that you're trying to be helpful with facts. When I'm writing, I take on the mindset that I am just neutrally pointing out a problem that <i><b>of course</b></i> the agency wouldn't tolerate of itself, <i><b>if they only knew</b></i>. I'm just being a good citizen reporting a broken wire or something that poor busy overworked senior officials must have overlooked, and they would have fixed <i><b>if they only knew</b></i>. Give a specific anecdote. If you ask to maintain anonymity, the IG will keep you anonymous vis-a-vis the PTO. I think you can give serial numbers and similar confidential-but-not-privileged information, especially stuff that will eventually be public anyway -- so far as I know, letters are not published. They will be forwarded to the PTO, but not published.</font>
</div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font style="font-family:arial,sans-serif" size="2">If you want, you can include the sentence "This complaint provides additional information to supplement complaints 23-0900, 24-0055, 24-0119, and 24-0124" that's probably all to the good -- let them know that it's not just two cranks named Oppedahl and Boundy.
</font></div><div><br></div><div>Examples from me and from Carl:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4623999" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Letter of Intellectual Property
Professionals to OMB/OIRA and to Commerce Inspector General re introduction of
a new bug in Patent Center (Nov. 4, 2023)</a><span style="text-decoration:underline"><ins datetime="2023-11-13T11:05" style="text-decoration:none"><span> <br></span></ins></span></div><div><span style="text-decoration:underline"><ins datetime="2023-11-13T11:05" style="text-decoration:none"><span><br></span></ins></span></div><div><span style="text-decoration:underline"><ins datetime="2023-11-13T11:05" style="text-decoration:none"><span></span></ins></span><a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4620375" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Letter of 82 Intellectual Property
Professionals to OIRA and Commerce IG relating to non-readiness of Patent
Center, requesting delay of retirement of EFS-Web and Private PAIR (Nov. 1, 2023)</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=4604104" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Letter of PTAAARMIGAN to Peg
Gustafson, Inspector General for the Department of Commerce, re waste, fraud,
abuse, and gross mismanagement in Patent Center (Oct. 16, 2023)</a><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://blog.oppedahl.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230929-letter.pdf" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline" target="_blank">Letter
of One Hundred Seventy-Eight Members of the Patent Center Listserv to Kathi
Vidal and Peg Gustafson (Sept. 29, 2023)</a>
</div><div><br></div><div><div><br><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><span><span><span><span><span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,127,160);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:12px"><a border="0" href="https://www.iam-media.com/strategy300/individuals/david-boundy" style="color:rgb(102,127,160);text-decoration:none;outline:none;background:transparent 0px 0px" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wHwYjQzxHxAaQrLX1XiLlcQpAZ83upYUjMvJLtwefIP8dBVb6tJA9Yn2W4bPdW2A18c1EIEHg" width="73" height="92"> <br></a></p></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(50,49,48);font-weight:normal;text-align:start;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px">
<b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(96,110,154)">David Boundy </span></b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">| Partner </span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)"><span style="margin:0px;background-color:white;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">|</span><span style="margin:0px;background-color:white"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> </span></span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">Potomac Law
Group, PLLC</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(50,49,48);font-weight:normal;text-align:start;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px">
<span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">P.O. Box 590638, Newton, MA 02459</span></p>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:13.3333px;color:black;text-align:left">
<font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"></span></font></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji",NotoColorEmoji,"Segoe UI Symbol","Android Emoji",EmojiSymbols;font-size:13.3333px;color:black">
<font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px"></span></font></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:13px;color:black">
<font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"></span></font></div>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:10pt"></span></p>
<font style="font-size:13.3333px;color:black;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji",NotoColorEmoji,"Segoe UI Symbol","Android Emoji",EmojiSymbols"><span style="margin:0px"></span></font>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"></span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"><span style="margin:0px">Tel
(646)</span><span style="margin:0px"> 472-9737</span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"> </span></span></font><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="gray"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt">|</span></font><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"> Fax:
(202) 318-7707</span></font></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(12,100,192)"><u><a href="mailto:dboundy@potomaclaw.com" title="mailto:dboundy@potomaclaw.com" style="color:rgb(254,70,165)" target="_blank">dboundy@potomaclaw.com</a></u> </span></span><span style="margin:0px;color:gray"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><u><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"></span></u></span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:10pt">| </span><u style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.potomaclaw.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="http://www.potomaclaw.com/" style="margin:0px" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(12,100,192)">www.potomaclaw.com</span></a></u></p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><font size="2">
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">
</span><a href="http://ssrn.com/author=2936470" target="_blank">Articles at http://ssrn.com/author=2936470</a><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext"><br></span></a></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">Click here to add me to your
contacts.</span></a></p></font></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:14px"><span style="font-weight:700"></span></p></span></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><br><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div><span><span><span><span><span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,127,160);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:12px"><a border="0" href="https://www.iam-media.com/strategy300/individuals/david-boundy" style="color:rgb(102,127,160);text-decoration:none;outline:none;background:transparent 0px 0px" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/mail-sig/AIorK4wHwYjQzxHxAaQrLX1XiLlcQpAZ83upYUjMvJLtwefIP8dBVb6tJA9Yn2W4bPdW2A18c1EIEHg" width="73" height="92"> <br></a></p></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(50,49,48);font-weight:normal;text-align:start;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px">
<b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(96,110,154)">David Boundy </span></b><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">| Partner </span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)"><span style="margin:0px;background-color:white;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">|</span><span style="margin:0px;background-color:white"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"> </span></span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">Potomac Law
Group, PLLC</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;color:rgb(50,49,48);font-weight:normal;text-align:start;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:15px">
<span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(124,134,154)">P.O. Box 590638, Newton, MA 02459</span></p>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:13.3333px;color:black;text-align:left">
<font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"></span></font></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji",NotoColorEmoji,"Segoe UI Symbol","Android Emoji",EmojiSymbols;font-size:13.3333px;color:black">
<font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px"></span></font></div>
<div style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:13px;color:black">
<font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont"></span></font></div>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:10pt"></span></p>
<font style="font-size:13.3333px;color:black;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,Helvetica,EmojiFont,"Apple Color Emoji","Segoe UI Emoji",NotoColorEmoji,"Segoe UI Symbol","Android Emoji",EmojiSymbols"><span style="margin:0px"></span></font>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"></span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"><span style="margin:0px">Tel
(646)</span><span style="margin:0px"> 472-9737</span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"> </span></span></font><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="gray"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt">|</span></font><font size="2" face="Helvetica" color="#7C869A"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"> Fax:
(202) 318-7707</span></font></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;color:rgb(124,134,154);font-size:13px;font-family:Helvetica,serif,EmojiFont">
<span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt;color:rgb(12,100,192)"><u><a href="mailto:dboundy@potomaclaw.com" title="mailto:dboundy@potomaclaw.com" style="color:rgb(254,70,165)" target="_blank">dboundy@potomaclaw.com</a></u> </span></span><span style="margin:0px;color:gray"><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:12pt"><u><span style="margin:0px;font-size:10pt"></span></u></span></span><span style="margin:0px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,serif,EmojiFont;font-size:10pt">| </span><u style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.potomaclaw.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="http://www.potomaclaw.com/" style="margin:0px" target="_blank"><span style="margin:0px;color:rgb(12,100,192)">www.potomaclaw.com</span></a></u></p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><font size="2">
<p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">
</span><a href="http://ssrn.com/author=2936470" target="_blank">Articles at http://ssrn.com/author=2936470</a><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext"><br></span></a></p><p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt"><a href="https://www.keynect.us/requestCardAccess/USA500DBOUN?" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">Click here to add me to your
contacts.</span></a></p></font></span></span></span></span></span><p style="margin:0px 0px 10px;color:rgb(102,102,102);font-family:"Open Sans",sans-serif,Arial;font-size:14px"><span style="font-weight:700"></span></p></span></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><font size="1"><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span><span><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>