On Tuesday, April 6, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that it has launched a new Ombudsman Program "designed to provide patent applicants with more assistance in handling application-processing problems if the normal channels have not been successful." This announcement (link HERE) identifies this new one-year pilot program as being "intended to provide applicants with additional resources to ensure application-processing problems are handled in a more efficient way, thereby saving applicants and the Agency both time and resources and improving patent quality," whereby "applicants, attorneys or agents who have application-processing concerns, and haven’t been able to get the assistance they need through normal channels in the Technology Center (TC), can contact the ombudsman representative for the TC through the USPTO Web site." After contacting an ombudsman representative, the applicant (or his/her agent) will receive a call within one business day to discuss the specifics, whereby the representative will work with TC staff to address the applicant’s concerns "and try to get the application back on track." Additional information is available at the announcement link above.