https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Q8JPbI1GRBRztAAI1i...
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Q8JPbI1GRBRztAAI1i...
Not entirely true. If you don't want an application to publish, there are options available. Under certain circumstances (i.e., you are 100% certain that you do not want to file for foreign patent protection in other countries), you can file with a non-publication request, and the application will not become public until it proceeds to issuance as a patent.
If it never proceeds to issuance as a patent, then filing it with a non-pub request will at least make it harder to find. It will then only become publicly available (in this case, in the USPTO's Public PAIR database) if it's referenced as a priority app in another published application or issued patent.
If it's abandoned and never referred to again in any application, then you have to file a petition to gain access to the file wrapper contents.
https://www.ipethicslaw.com/pto-suspends-ptab-atty-who-filed...
I'll bet it's pretty easy for two companies to make a deal to pay bonuses to each other's employees when patents are granted.
With regard to the moonlighting patent examiners, I'm fairly certain this is illegal. See MPEP 309 and MPEP 1702.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s309.html#d0e1919...https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1702.html
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There's basically a quota that some percentage of contracts must be awarded to those groups.
-Make sure you qualify as a “small business” under SBA regulations
-Make sure you have the necessary accounts (DUNS number & CAGE code) to accept Purchase Orders and be awarded a government contract. https://www.sam.gov/portal/SAM/#1#1
-For instances in which the agency may pay you via credit card, make sure that you have some way of accepting credit card payments that does NOT use a third-party intermediary like PayPal.