Kilpatrick FOIA Request Sheds Light on SAWS

According to Tech Columnist Alyssa Bereznak, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton recently obtained a 50-page document via FOIA that reveals information concerning the PTO’s Sensitive Application Warning System (SAWS). According to Bereznak:

Any application that is categorized in SAWS . . . is placed in a special type of patent purgatory. SAWS-marked patents must be approved by anywhere from three to nine people and can be delayed for years. There is no official channel to notify an applicant once her patent is placed in the system, and the Patent Office has denied requests to divulge what applications are on the SAWS list.

Read the entire article with links to the FOIA produced documents here.