[Patentpractice] A change in rules for Examiners?

[Judith S]

I saw this on the Patent Examiner reddit, and thought it was worth sharing:

https://www.reddit.com/r/patentexaminer/comments/1j8ear1/today_sucked/

Original Poster said:

Junior here. I just need to vent. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to do
my job when I have no one to help me. Struggled all day with a search and
was told SCEs can no longer help. Need to transfer some cases, not sure
where they should go. SPE was unavailable because they were trying to
figure out their RTO, but they don’t know my art anyway. Struggled with
claim interpretations that I would usually ask about. Spent a lot of time
stuck and frustrated. I do not blame the primaries for not helping, and I
hope they continue to hold the line. But man, this really f-ing sucks. I
care about my work, and I don’t want to put out shitty actions.

But hey, at least my phone wasn’t working so I didn’t have to field any
calls.
Various commenters, many of whom appear to be examiners:

"I was told all SCE (Search and Classification Examiners) time was gone,
for everyone."

"we were explicitly told by our SPE to not ask primaries questions, and
that our AU was cut to zero other time."

Judith
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