New USPTO Group to Crack Down on Threats to U.S. Patent System

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Wednesday announced a new working group dedicated to broadening the Office’s efforts to mitigate common threats to the U.S. patent system.

The group has been dubbed the Patent Fraud Detection and Mitigation Working Group and it “represents the agency’s continued commitment to limit improper activity in patent applications and reexamination proceedings at USPTO and reduce patent application pendency,” according to today’s press release.

The USPTO has also launched a webpage outlining actions the working group is taking to address threats and providing examples of some of the key threats to be aware of. These include falsified signatures; false claims of discounted fee status; filing of “spurious” patent applications in which bad faith applicants use technology to electronically file high volumes of patent applications with no intent to pursue patent protection and, often, no fees paid; and unauthorized representation before the USPTO.

The data section of the group’s page says that efforts to mitigate patent threats have so far resulted in the identification of 3,900 falsified signatures since June 2023 and the termination of 3,300 applications since October 2024; more than 2,200 fee deficiency notices mailed in response to false micro entity status certifications; and more than $1.8 million collected due to mailing of fee deficiency notices.

The group will also monitor suspicious filings and use the sanctions process to address any misrepresentations identified. In two examples of previous actions taken to address misrepresentations before the Office, one attorney was publicly reprimanded and placed on probation for a period of 12 months (In re Yang, Proceeding No. D2024-04 (February 2, 2024)) while another was permanently excluded from practice before the USPTO (In re Yu, Proceeding No. D2025-01 (December 20, 2024)).

In the Yang case, the Office issued a final order terminating approximately 3,100 patent applications for intent to deceive the Office via fraudulent “S-signatures” in October 2024. The USPTO said in a news alert at the time that the “scale of this fraudulent action is a stark reminder for registered practitioners of their obligations under the USPTO Rules of Practice to take reasonable precautions to protect their credentials and alert the USPTO of any suspected fraud.”

Practitioner Jie Yang first became aware of her signature being entered on thousands of documents without her knowledge in October 2022, when the Office of Enrollment and Discipline (OED) sent her a request for information (RFI) regarding a number of micro entity certifications which exceeded the limits for such status set forth under USPTO rules. Yang responded that she had not signed the documents and subsequently informed the Office that “thousands of applications” had been filed with the unauthorized use of her signature.

The filings were submitted by Dr. Yu “Mark” Wang “or another individual associated with Mark Wang or his firm, Wayne & King IP. According to a USPTO order issued in February 2024, Yang had known Wang since 2001 and met him when they attended the same university in China. She claimed she trusted him as a friend and that he told her he was a patent agent with years of experience in patent preparation and prosecution. However, Wang is neither a registered practitioner nor licensed to practice law.

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Author: stuartmiles
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