The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office unveiled proposed changes this week designed to make patent reviews more efficient.

In the first overhaul of the patent examiners' work structure since 1976, the proposal creates incentives for the country's 6,325 patent examiners to issue or reject applications over a shorter timeline. Newly appointed Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos initiated the changes and a task force spent the past month hashing out details.

The patent office's backlog of over 770,000 applications awaiting review means it can take up to five years to get a final patent issued, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Deputy General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez noted on the company blog.

"The cost of this workload to patent applicants and patent offices is too high and the delays in securing patents are too long for entrepreneurs and large enterprises alike," Gutierrez wrote.

Biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies also stand to benefit from a streamlined patent review process.

"As with most sectors, our companies are also very interested in timely and high quality patents," said Stephanie Fischer, spokeswoman for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which represents companies including Genentech, a unit of Roche Holding AG (RHHBY), and Pfizer, Inc. (PFE).

Under the proposal, examiners will get one additional hour to review each application, as well as more credit for time spent on initial reviews and less credit for work on continuing applications. Currently both types of reviews give examiners equal credit, which is used to measure their productivity.

Officials hope that restructuring the credit system will encourage examiners to do a more thorough first review. Their goal is to pinpoint what exactly can be patented, rather than encouraging applicants to file time-consuming continuations. Examiners would also get credit for taking their own initiative to call applicants to discuss their patents.

Peggy Focarino, deputy commissioner for patents, said the new incentives should speed decisions on patent applications. But she noted that companies that want to delay a patent decision - for instance, a pharmaceutical company waiting for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval - will still be allowed to do so.

Giving examiners more time and credit for the labor-intensive initial review of the patent and its relevant history should also boost morale and decrease turnover, said Robert Budens, president of the Patent Office Professional Association, the union representing the examiners.

"Examiners have been wound very tight recently," he said.

Skeptics counter that the additional hour permitted for each application may work against reducing the office's accumulation of pending patents.

"Extra time is contrary to reduction in the backlog," said Richard Lazarus, a former examiner and current attorney.

The examiners' union will discuss the proposal for two weeks before voting whether to accept the changes.

-By Kristina Peterson, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6619; kristina.peterson@dowjones.com