Editing Prior art (section)

==Public participation in patent examination ==
{{Main|Public participation in patent examination}}

With the advent of the [[Internet]], a number of initiatives have been undertaken to create a forum where the public at large can participate in prior art searches. These forums have been related to both issued patents and pending patent applications.

=== Pending patent applications ===
More recently, different attempts to employ open Internet-based discussions for encouraging public participation commenting on pending U.S. applications have been started. These may take the form of a [[wiki]]:
* [http://www.peertopatent.org/ Peer-to-patent online system for open, community patent review].
* [http://patents.stackexchange.com/ patents@stackexchange. A Q&A site for people interested in improving and participating in the patent system.]

Patent examiners often use the online encyclopedia [[Wikipedia]] as a reference to get an overall feel for a given subject.<ref name="ptoUsesWikipedia">Office of the Chief Information Officer, [http://www.uspto.gov/about/vendor_info/current.../ocio-6013-09q.pdf Secure Application Development Coding Policy OCIO]{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, USPTO, May 22, 2009.</ref><ref name="stead">[http://patentlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/09/uspto-bans-wikipedia.html USPTO Bans Wikipedia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070507132522/http://patentlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/09/uspto-bans-wikipedia.html |date=2007-05-07 }}, The Patent Librarian's Notebook, 2006-09-10, citing Stead, Deborah, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110524020150/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_36/c3999012.htm#ZZZ6MALU8RE Up Front: Kicking Wiki Out Of The Patent Office], Bloomberg Business Week, 2006-09-04.</ref> Citations of Wikipedia as actual prior art can be problematic, however, due to the fluid and open nature of its editing, and Patents Commissioner Doll said the agency used Wikipedia entries as background and not as a basis for accepting or rejecting an application.<ref name="stead"/>