Automated routing, patent examiner specialization, and quasi-random assignment at the USPTO
研究了美国专利商标局2020年引入的自动路由系统对审查员专业化的影响，发现技术重叠增加57%，但消除了准随机分配，这对依赖准随机分配的实证研究有重要影响。
In October 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) introduced an automated process for routing new patent applications, in part to increase examiner specialization. In this research note, we first assess whether the USPTO achieved this objective using a difference-in-differences (DiD) research design on a sample of applications assigned to examiners between 2018 and 2021. The new routing system increased technical overlap between examiner work histories and newly assigned cases by 57 percent, indicating a substantial increase in examiner specialization across the agency. In addition, we show that automated routing — largely unknown in the academic literature — effectively eliminated quasi-random assignment of applications to examiners. Given the importance of quasi-random assignment for empirical research, we discuss our findings within this context and potential impact on future research.