Probably not the latter

Summary: The head of the USPTO celebrates the news of backlogs receding and Peer to Patent is apparently equally jubilant

IN THE freaky world of patent lawyers, good patents are broad patents that can get everyone sued. In the world of OIN, a "good" patent is one that would be hard to invalidate. In the USPTO, all patents are "good" because they are a source of income. In principle, the USPTO under Kapos is a lost cause and according to this new post from Kappos, despite the recession/depression, they are speeding up the processing of monopoly applications. This is the last thing the United States needs right now, especially given how hard patent trolls and patent cartels are hitting. The reaction from Peer to Patent is a foolish remark to say the least. The person fielding their Twitter account says:

Looks like the signs of progress at the USPTO! Backlog receding!

Unless it's sarcasm, this is bad because we generally see that the number of patents increases over time. So the news above may be indicative of matters getting worse, not better, except from the USPTO's point-of-view because patents are just business to these people. The president of the FFII responded by writing "More patents!"

Yes, this is probably what the USPTO considers to be "success". If the USDOJ wants to clean up the anti-competitive mess, a good place to start would be a rethink of the USPTO. As one person pointed out some hours ago:

the uspo just approves patents now days, they are a gigantic money hole. They let litigation test the validity of patents.

Claudio from Linux Basement replied with

Talk about a waste of money on paying those salaries if they aren't going to do their job of properly approving patents.

What a waste of productivity and what a toll on everyone. Citizens of the United States would be up in arms if they understood the ramifications that are kept hidden from them (like artificially elevated cost on everything in the market). The backlogs used to be a symptom and an argument for overhaul of the USPTO; by throwing more people at the problem, the USPTO helps ensure it keeps doing its rancid things, granting yet more monopolies on yet more walks of life. People need to get up and protest. ⬆