U.S. Patent Office Ends Previously-Secret “Warning System” Program after 20 Years

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On March 2, 2015, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it has ended its secret Sensitive Application Warning System (SAWS), first developed in 1994.  The alleged aim of the SAWS program was to identify controversial patent applications so that they could receive additional review before issuance.  The USPTO has consistently maintained that SAWS was not a "secret program."  Examiners, however, were instructed not to talk about it, and its existence did not come to light until an October 2014 FOIA request, which was widely reported in December of 2014! 

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