Biotech patent examiners

Budgetary constraints make it impossible for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to carry out plans to add 120 new biotech patent examiners over the next two years, PTO Group 180 Deputy Director Charles Warren told the seventh annual Biotechnology Law Institute meeting on June 7. The office will now aim for 30 new examiners in FY 1991 and will attempt to add another 50 in FY 1992, Warren said. These additions should bring the Group 180 examiner staff up to 185 by the end of FY 1992.