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<p>About a year ago an Examiner mentioned that they were having to
get used to PCT again because Chapter II proceedings had recently
been brought back into the normal art units, which hadn't been
that way for years. My understanding (no documentation for this)
was that the USPTO essentially had outsourced even Chapter II
proceedings outside of the normal art units for at least a time.</p>
<p>Again, that was just my understanding but I may be wrong on that
because I normally don't use IPEA/US. I did notice on other cases
I've seen that the US IPRP work products up until a few years ago
seemed to match more of the ISA work product then a normal US
examiner's work product, but that could have been biased based on
my expectations.<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/9/2025 9:20 AM, Carl Oppedahl
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:a3378a63-c279-4c8c-8cc5-3d5340660415@oppedahl.com">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 6/9/2025 7:56 AM, Timothy Snowden
via Pct wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:DS0PR12MB6583B040B631A0A90574BCEBA66BA@DS0PR12MB6583.namprd12.prod.outlook.com">
<p>The US IPRP seems to be good quality lately (with my very
limited experience with it), and <i><b>now</b></i> that
actual examiners are doing it seems to be respected by the US,
but I shy away from it in most cases just because of the
timing -- the one time I've done it in the past few years
(because clients were US first and not even sure they were
going to file outside of US but just wanted to preserve
options), USPTO didn't get it there in time for national
stage.</p>
</blockquote>
(emphasis added)<br>
<p>This isn't a "now" thing. Ever since the USPTO joined the PCT
in 1978, actual Examiners (USPTO employees in the Examining
Corps) have been doing IPEA/US work. That has never changed in
47 years.<br>
</p>
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</blockquote>
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