At Patterson + Sheridan, building strong professional relationships is just as important as developing solid patent applications — the two go hand in hand.

Our unique, long-standing relationships with patent examiners enable our attorneys to deliver stronger and more efficient results to our clients.

More meaningful office actions

We work with many of the same patent examiners time after time, but we don’t just exchange emails and documents. Our attorneys regularly get on the phone with examiners in between Office Actions, which enables us to better understand their perspective and allows examiners to better understand our clients’ applications. Moreover, examiners often proactively reach out to our attorneys for discussions, helping to advance and expedite prosecution.

Not only does this open communication yield more direct feedback from the USPTO, but examiners provide our attorneys with greater insight beyond the text of the office action itself. That means we can draft more robust responses tailored to the examiner’s perspective, allowing our client’s position to be presented in the clearest manner.

Faster resolutions

The patent prosecution process involves a lot of interpretation. By conducting routine examiner interviews, our attorneys can explain a client’s claim and position in greater detail, resulting in a more targeted response from the USPTO. This often means a quicker resolution, making a lengthy and expensive appeals process less likely.

A people-first philosophy

Our attorneys take a collaborative approach to working with patent examiners — we treat them as teammates. We recognize that we share a similar goal: a meaningful patent that has undergone rigorous and thorough examination. Establishing a positive rapport reduces unnecessary (and costly) back-and-forth as we advocate for our clients. By engaging examiners with a synergistic mindset, our attorneys ensure examination is conducted in a smooth and effective manner, resulting in patents our clients can confidently stand behind.

When examiners work with a Patterson + Sheridan attorney, they don’t just see another name in an email signature. They’re on a first-name basis. We prioritize open dialogue, teamwork and a relentless pursuit for the best solution — and our clients ultimately benefit.