Peer to Patent Project

The U.S. Patent Office needs our help. According to the Peer to Patent Project, "underpaid and overwhelmed examiners struggle under the backlog of [patent] applications. Under pressure to expedite review, patents for unmerited inventions are approved."

It isn't everyday that a U.S. government agency extends a hand out to the crowd. And when they do, it's usually for taxes. In the case of the Peer to Patent Project, the government is actually asking for help on how to streamline the process by which the government actually works.

The solution to their woes? To "create a peer review system for patents that exploits network technology to enable innovation experts to inform the patent examination procedure." And they've done just that.

This reporting topic was in part inspired by Chris Fornof's comments here.