[Patentpractice] One Interview per Round?

[Ronni Jillions]

We got a call today from an examiner who said their performance plan changed to require them to do more in the same time, but that to do that, he had to have cases in his docket.  So he was calling for a telephone election.

Sigh.
Ronni

Ms. Ronni S. Jillions
Admitted to practice in Washington DC and
before the United States Patent and Trademark Office
Partner
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From: Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com> On Behalf Of Alan Taboada via Patentpractice
Sent: Monday, October 6, 2025 4:07 PM
To: For patent practitioners. This is not for laypersons to seek legal advice. <patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Alan Taboada <ataboada at mtiplaw.com>
Subject: Re: [Patentpractice] One Interview per Round?


We had an examiner tell us that they were instructed to have NO interviews – apparently due to the large backlog of cases and in an effort to spend more time examining and less time chatting on the phone with pesky applicants and/or their attorneys.


From: Patentpractice <patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentpractice-bounces at oppedahl-lists.com>> On Behalf Of Timothy Snowden via Patentpractice
Sent: Monday, October 6, 2025 3:52 PM
To: patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com<mailto:patentpractice at oppedahl-lists.com>
Cc: Timothy Snowden <tdsnowden at outlook.com<mailto:tdsnowden at outlook.com>>
Subject: Re: [Patentpractice] One Interview per Round?


I had an examiner tell me the same thing.
On 10/3/2025 3:10 PM, Judith S via Patentpractice wrote:
An examiner in a recent interview told me that the examining corps just received a memo indicating that they are only permitted one interview for a ‘round,' which means from filing through RCE.

The Patent Examiner subreddit confirms:

https://link.edgepilot.com/s/614d03ad/QcT-hnKatU2pSi7WaJhCCw?u=https://www.reddit.com/r/patentexaminer/comments/1nw58wc/stakeholders_they_just_effectively_limited_you_to/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__link.edgepilot.com_s_614d03ad_QcT-2DhnKatU2pSi7WaJhCCw-3Fu-3Dhttps-3A__www.reddit.com_r_patentexaminer_comments_1nw58wc_stakeholders-5Fthey-5Fjust-5Feffectively-5Flimited-5Fyou-5Fto_&d=DwMGaQ&c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM&r=5yorqlAgQCjy70Bhtwc7O92AgXg2Hoo2uu3SnI8N-6adpnDDvaqkuM5mXjRy2qe3&m=2DLJGseHbqXvZ8UOxXLG9902PDZ4HQc9IKORJSt2KyZxKLN7CgIZJIEJ1x0cw4-z&s=4qslxcqrk381IMikS2-wAlYsm1MgskNdTR3EdLOYm0Q&e=>

Commenters are suggesting that patent attorneys need to step up and push to change this policy, because otherwise we'll be getting a lot of interview denials.

I hope this memo predates the new head of the PTO, but I fear it does not.

Judith



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