§ Mr. Warrenasked the Secretary of State for Trade if he is aware that applicants for patents now have to wait until half way through the normal statutory period for overcoming objections to their complete patent specifications before receiving from the Patent Office the first report of the examiner as to the objections to be overcome; and what steps he is taking to render more successful the efforts of the Patent Office to recruit additional examining staff.
§ Mr. Clinton DavisThe period for removing objections is 30 months, which is fixed by statutory instrument, taking into account the delay in issuing the first report of the examiner. This delay is at present on average 13 months, but in some fields of technology it is 15 months. The Patent Office does what is practicable, by moving examiners, to limit the spread of the delays in different fields of technology.
A recruitment competition for permanent appointments has just closed with about 160 applicants. A competition for short period appointments has not yet closed. The new examiners yielded by these competitions, together with a predicted fall in the filings of complete specifications in 1975, should result in a fall in the 13-months delay period.