Does the USPTO routinely reject patent applications at the “first office action” in order to drive up costs for independent inventors?
We don’t know. We do know that it is their job to make certain that they protect patents that are already issued by rejecting any claims that could overlap those on existing patents. So, for this reason, we believe they sometimes get over zealous in rejecting claims just to protect themselves. We think they figure that if you really want your patent badly enough, you will provide proof to them that your claims do not interfere with those of a patent that is already in existence.
