It was recently announced that the USPTO will soon start a pilot project whereby the public has the opportunity to comment on patent applications currently under examination. The project will begin with about 250 software patent applications, and will utilize a system similar to Wikipedia to allow comments to be made and rated by the reviewing community. According to the Charleston Daily Mail news article (link below), “[u]ntil now, patent examiners rarely sought outside opinions, instead relying on scientific writings and archived records of previous patents,” and “[f]or security reasons -- in particular, out of concern that examiners could inadvertently reveal proprietary information if their online searches were tracked -- patent officials have at times even been barred from using the Internet for research.” According to David Kappos, vice president and assistant general counsel at IBM (one of the companies agreeing to participate in the pilot program, “[f]or the first time in history, it allows the patent-office examiners to open up their cubicles and get access to a whole world of technical experts.” Specific details on this pilot program have not yet been published on the USPTO website.

Charleston Daily Mail News Article: LINK
Slashdot Article: LINK