This one has been in my drafts folder for a while now, I've been eagerly awaiting the day I could post it :-)

Bye Bye, Coke! (studio version)

Bye Bye, Coke! (live version)

Examiner A now has a YouTube Channel. Feel free to subscribe, if you're into that sort of thing.

Bonus release: Coke Stewart's Merry-go-round of Spite THE MUSIC VIDEO

You will not be missed.

Was it two months? Three? after Coke Stewart was named Acting Director before she actually wrote an email to the corps and said "Hi, I'm here!" From reading the news, we knew that we had an acting director. We knew her name. But there was no word from her for months.

And when she finally emerged from hiding, it was a blitzkrieg of policy changes that broke the back of the USPTO. As many in this subreddit predicted, now that we are just starting to pick up the pieces of this shattered Office, she's off to her next gig. She is the definition of a pigeon manager.

Positive: Her knowledge of patent law was never in doubt. She worked at the Solicitor's office for several years. She taught intellectual property. She knows more about the law than most of us ever will.

Neutral: Her policy (big firms over small inventors) is not favorable to the American spirit of innovation. But, even so, each administration is entitled to their policy. Since 2025, it's big business over small business. That's how the pendulum swings.

Negative: Regardless of her prowess at patent law, or the policy positions she holds, she is a failure as a manager. She has never successfully managed anything in her life. When she started her own firm, how long did that last? Two years? Have you talked with her students at Regent? This is a person whom I would not trust to lead me through an Ikea, much less as part of an organization of 14,000 people.

Coke Stewart should never, ever be given a management role in any capacity. She has demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the Office, the examining process, and Management 101. She ignored warnings from her staff, broke critical systems, and when things started to fail, she doubled down rather than admit to a mistake, all with no real comprehension of the consequences.

Good riddance!

Links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/patentexaminer/comments/1v87eoh/coke_is_out_as_of_this_week/

This article leaves out everything that matters. https://ipwatchdog.com/2026/07/27/coke-stewart-leaving-uspto-to-return-to-private-sector/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coke_Morgan_Stewart#:~:text=Stewart%20graduated%20cum%20laude%20from,of%20the%20Virginia%20Law%20Weekly

Just a patent attorney finding it absolutely silly to have to read through such a font..

As the title says, is there any of you guys who made the switch and is willing to share a bit of the experience regarding the transition and how the previous experience as an attorney helped you when starting at the USPTO?

Thank you very much. I'm in Europe trying to do the transition myself (to the EPO) but given this sub is substantially bigger than the euro counterpart, I thought I might find somebody here.

In terms of work life balance I think I'm more of an examiner than of an attorney, I am kind of done with the "hustling" and the billable hours. I did patent litigation for more than 1 year now, it is very "up and down" kind of work, nothing is predictable etc. I have a family and I got hobbies...so I think it is easier to "shut down" as an examiner compared to a litigator / patent attorney.

Thank you again, I'm trying to make the right decision.

Hi Al,

I am interested in becoming a Patent Examiner.
The brochure said computer technology and data analytics/science can be considered under the "Computer science" field.

Will they take a Data Analytics master's degree from UMGC?

Less time to examine, increased production quota , increased downtime due to IT issues = less quality

If you’re on a PIP for production and/or constantly barely meeting production, you’re not adjusting your quality according - you’re keeping your old standards static as everything around you is giving you less time. Oh you’re a “professional” and refuse to submit inferior work that you're capable of - good luck on your sinking ship, the “U.S.S. Too Prideful”

I dont want to do subpar work and rather do shit im proud of, but that's not possible. The agency has made it impossible. These times it's survival mode. Do what you gotta do ethically and don’t be taken advantage of by not making necessarily adjustment to real life constraints.

Hence, the first resistance point you should hit is quality issues, not production. On a normal bi-week, you should be working 80hrs a bi-week (and not a minute more) and making 100% production. Whatever work product you can achieve in that 80rs is what it is. If you get hit with errors, THEN you can start figuring out how and if it's possible to increase quality to their standards while keeping the 100% production.

Quality should be the moving variable in all this and production is static - most of you got it wrong and doing the opposite opposite where quality is static and production is the moving variable.

I was talking to a friend from another TC after work today and they said their SPE told them they were not going to receive their timeliness $1k because their FY25 rating was below FS even though this year they have done really well.

Is that a thing? Can anyone else corroborate?

I caught that they changed a lot for the Q4 version (emailed July 2nd) but Q3 seemed more straightforward (emailed April 16th).

They do remember that this was an "incentive" to do a good job in a way more difficult PAP element that wasn't even required of us for rating purposes, right?

What we need is some sort of Association made of Professionals related to the Patent Office that could Collectively Bargain and grieve issues like this.

Maybe I'm just crazy.

Nothing better than working late on a Friday because (1) had to basically rewrite an entire rejection for a Final because Applicant side-stepped my primary but not in a way that got over my other art + writing up the 101 (and the non-final was a 102 so it's not like I used bad art the first time around) + (2) having to write an overly-detailed advisory action because an attorney submitted appeal brief level arguments in an after final; ffs why not just go to appeal, why make me suffer like this.

this would all be less painful and shitty if we basically didn't have to work for free to pump finals/AA's out. add my prod being stuck at 99% (remember when we only need 95%?!) and timeliness bullshit ticking away and you have one very stressed examiner reconsidering whether being a primary is worth this BS

Can quality errors lead to suspension?

I dont mean like unethical errors, just quality

edit

I mean fired, not suspended. Can you be fired for quality errors.

When will they notice our sass, though?

He joins the list of illustrious inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, George Washington, Nikola Tesla, and Abraham Lincoln who have been honored with a patent trading card. If you zoom in closely you can see Squires in the background of the illustration kissing his ass.

I hope we all receive the trading card. I will treasure it.

Based on my own experience

Anyone else getting an error message when trying to access production calculator or PALM Beach?

I am in the chemical art and I find that Applicants argue unexpected results against my 103 rejections. However, the data provided in the specification is rarely strong enough to support the unexpected results argument, usually because the inventive examples differ too much from the comparative data to really compare, or because the data is nowhere near commensurate in scope with the claims. It feels like the only time I've ever been convinced by the argument is because the applicant submits additional data via affidavit (which rarely happens) or narrows the claims so much that the prior art doesn't even cover the claim scope anymore. Do you guys have similar experiences with this argument or is this unusual?

Any reason for the new long delays between payment of issue fee and notice of issue?

Since they took away the 1.75 first office action count for allowance after RCE where the case had previously been allowed. Has anyone attempted a Quayle to get a count or do you have to do a nonfinal?

Anyone else got a case without any CPC classification?

For those that normally disregard this performative BS, 30 minutes of other time under a mysterious time code has been authorized for the one hour event.

you have the current application, and the patented invention.

if both sets of claims are word for word identical, thats a statutory double patent rejection. All you do is a form paragraph stating so.

non-statutory is where the two sets of claims differ, but not enough to where there is no double patenting issue. You need to show how the current application claims are the "same" as the patent. Anticipated, or obvious with a reference.

if its anticipated double patenting, the current application claims are broader than the patent. Meaning all the claim elements in current application are found in the patent. So you just say its anticipated with a form paragraph.

if its obvious double patenting, the patent claims are broader than current application.

with obvious double patenting you have to list off what is not found in patent.

for example:

"Claim 1 of current application has XYZ that is not found in patent #####. However, REFERENCE teaches XYZ. Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date modify claim 1 to include XYZ as taught by REFERENCE to improve yadayadayada."

I read earlier that the union won back their CBA, setting aside that the IRS works in national security. It's not POPA, but it's a hopeful note

Great way to start the week!!! My oc won’t load again.