What is the role of supervisory patent examiners in the examination process?

Supervisory patent examiners play a crucial role in overseeing the examination process and ensuring its efficiency. The MPEP 707.02 outlines their responsibilities:

The supervisory patent examiners should impress upon their assistants that the shortest path to the final disposition of an application is by finding the best references on the first search and carefully applying them.

This guidance emphasizes the importance of thorough initial searches and careful application of references. Additionally, supervisory examiners are expected to personally review applications that have received multiple Office actions or have been pending for an extended period, with the goal of concluding the prosecution process efficiently.

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Tags: Examination Efficiency, patent examination, Reference Search, Supervisory Patent Examiner