

Inside the Stressed-out, Time-crunched Patent Examiner Workforce - zabalmendi
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/07/31/inside-the-stressed-out-time-crunched-patent-examiner-workforce/

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shitlord
> Or, the researchers admit, it could mean that the examiners are getting more
> laid back about giving approvals over time.

I would agree with this. My dad is a senior patent examiner at the USPTO.
After working his way up, he's become a lazy GS14 (and so have all of his
coworkers). Apparently, people at the patent office stop working hard after
they reach GS13.

I guess it's symptomatic of doing government work. I don't mean to disparage
government work, but approving patents isn't what you think of when someone
says "public service". I see the same sort of thing at large companies as
well.

If anyone has questions about how things work at the USPTO, let me know and
I'll ask him.

