To Improve Patent Quality, Let's Use Fees to Weed Out Weak Patents

This Essay is based on comments I submitted May 6, 2015 in response to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Request for Comments on Enhancing Patent Quality. It proceeds in two parts. First, I share two general observations about the PTO’s current slate of New Quality Proposals: specifically, it fails to include any reforms that apply post-issue or any reforms that exercise the PTO’s fee-setting authority. Second, building on these observations and two recent empirical studies of mine, I outline two proposals that I urge the PTO to consider: specifically, an increase in maintenance fees and a decrease in fees for post-issue administrative challenges.