Appendix B: Performance Goals and Measures that Have Been Discontinued or Changed

Protect intellectual property and improve the patent and trademark system

Performance Goal: Improve the quality of patent products and services and optimize patent processing time (USPTO)
Corresponding Measures	Patent examiner certification Patent examiner re-certification Patent in-process reviews
Change	Measures discontinued
Justification	Patent and Trademark pendency and quality are the key measures of the effectiveness of USPTO operations. The 21st Century Strategic Plan outlines the actions necessary to begin to reverse the upward trend in pendency that has resulted from increased filings and the growing complexity of applications. While training and certifying examiners is an important aspect of quality, they are just three of many internal measures that are useful for planning and developing strategies for improving pendency and quality. These measures do not serve as indicators of the effectiveness of the overall USPTO strategic and performance goals and should not be included in the Annual Performance Plan. USPTO will continue to track these measures internally for quality assurance.
Corresponding Measure	Patent in-process reviews error rate
Change	Measure reworded as “Patent in-process examination compliance rate”
Justification	The new wording better reflects what USPTO is seeking to accomplish by focusing on the positive aspects of USPTO’s work.

Performance Goal: Improve the quality of trademark products and services and optimize trademark processing time (USPTO)
Corresponding Measure	Trademark in-process reviews
Change	Measure reworded as “Trademark first action deficiency rate”
Justification	The new wording better reflects what USPTO is seeking to accomplish, that is, decreasing the number of errors within the trademark review process.
Corresponding Measure	Trademark productivity
Change	Measure discontinued, though this measure did not have historical data reported in past PARs.
Justification	Patent and Trademark pendency and quality are the key measures of the effectiveness of USPTO operations. The 21st Century Strategic Plan outlines the actions necessary to begin to reverse the upward trend in pendency that has resulted from increased filings and the growing complexity of applications. While productivity is an important measure, it is just one of many internal measures that are useful for planning and developing strategies for improving the key measures of pendency and quality. These measures do not serve as indicators of the effectiveness of the overall USPTO strategic and performance goals and should not be included in the Annual Performance Plan.

Performance Goal: Create a more flexible organization through transitioning patent and trademark applications to e-goverment operations and participating in intellectual property development worldwide (USPTO)
Change	Goal reworded as "Create a more flexible organization through transitioning patent and trademark operations to an e-government environment and advancing intellectual property development worldwide (USPTO)"
Justification	Wording change reflects a more active role of USPTO in intellectual property development worldwide.