INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RESEARCH ORGANIZATION RELEASES SURVEY ON USPTO AUTOMATED SEARCH SYSTEMS DATA ACCURACY FINDS 52% ERROR RATE

The National Intellectual Property Researchers Association (NIPRA) has released the results of their survey of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) X-Search and TESS trademark database error rates. This survey is the first in a series of studies planned to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the USPTO automated patent and trademark search systems.

The survey reviewed all of the nearly 4000 trademark applications filed during a week in late 2001 and revealed a 52% error rate in the design codes assigned by the USPTO. Although limited in scope to a review of the design images and codes present in the existent databases, the survey indicated that similar errors exist in the bibliographic data fields and that some images and bibliographic data have been completely omitted from the databases.

When trademark filings are assigned incorrect design codes or when their images are illegible/missing, those images can not be found using the USPTO electronic search systems, potentially allowing others to adopt similar marks only to incur costly penalties in the form of litigation, lost marketing expenses, sales and good will. Further, as the USPTO examiners rely on these systems to determine the registerability of newly filed applications, they will also miss relevant citations resulting in erroneous trademark registrations and the attendant potential for litigation.

Despite their awareness of these errors, the USPTO published a Federal Register Notice on April 9, 2002 detailing their plans to eliminate the paper records which are now the only means for verifying the data in the database and locating trademark filings that have been incorrectly indexed in the electronic search systems.

NIPRA recommends that the USPTO immediately commission an independent study of the automated search systems by an independent organization to ensure correction of the existing data and creation of guidelines to correct the data flow and ensure future data quality. Pending the results of that study the agency must suspend all efforts to eliminate the paper trademark search records. The office is also urged to advise users of the automated search systems of their deficiencies in accordance with OMB Circular A-130.