21

THE NEXT MORNING Addy had barely taken a first sip of her coffee when Janice bolted through the door waving a paper.

“We got an office action!”

An office action was patent lawyer lingo for the document summarizing the examiner’s review of a patent application. The fact that this paperwork had been issued by the Patent Office meant one of Addy’s cases had gotten through the minefield meant to submerge her attempts.

Addy snatched it out of her hand. “What’s it say?” She immediately began perusing the results of the examiner’s findings.

For some of the applications, Addy had filed a special request for an interview with the examiner before he formally acted on the case. This was a response to her request, and contained a summary of the scientific literature the examiner had discovered during his search. Before proceeding with his examination, the patent examiner wished to discuss his findings with Addy. By filing this request, Addy could be made privy to whether the examiner thought the application contained any merit and then informally negotiate a way to get the patent without all the normal back-and-forth paperwork.

Addy ran her finger down the list of documents the examiner had uncovered during his search. “I need copies of these pronto,” Addy said, handing Janice the last page of the report.

“Consider it done,” Janice said hustling out the door toward her office.

Addy picked up the phone. “I’m gonna call the Patent Office,” she said loud enough for Sung-soo to hear. “We may have some good news.”

The examiner gave Addy the impression that he was skeptical of her claims about extracting hydrogen from water. The good news was that the examiner was located in the San Jose office, meaning they didn’t need to travel all the way to Washington for a meeting.

Nearly every patent application is initially rejected, and the examiner’s dismissal was nothing new to Addy. His position that this idea was akin to a perpetual motion machine was disheartening—but not unexpected. She’d already told Quinn that a demonstration with his catalyst would be critical to ensuring the examiner’s stamp of approval.

“If you’re going to make claims like this, I’m going to have to see it for myself,” the examiner told her over the phone.

Addy was incredibly relieved that he spoke with an American accent. So many of the examiners struggled to speak English, making it difficult to explain any type of invention. As much as she cringed when Perry complained about the so-called diversity in the Patent Office, sometimes he had a legitimate point.

“The inventor is fully prepared to give you a demonstration,” she told the examiner. “I admit that although I am his attorney I, too, was somewhat dismissive. But after studying the science and seeing it for myself, I can honestly tell you that this is sound technology, and one that could change all of our lives. When should we set up a visit?” she concluded.

“Since you filed this as an expedited case, I need to act on it in two weeks. That means I’ll need to see your demonstration next week. Is that possible?”

“You’re in San Jose?”

“Yes, and it looks like your offices are in Palo Alto.”

“That’s correct, so we can drive down for the interview. Would next Tuesday at ten work?”

The line went silent as the examiner checked his calendar. “Let’s make it ten-thirty. I have a training meeting.”

Before she hung up, Sung-soo was hovering over her desk, his morning drink on his breath. He plunged his hand into his pocket, tugged out a phone and tapped the screen to call Quinn.

“Thanks,” Addy grunted as she snatched the phone.

“You’re killing me,” Quinn’s scratchy voice answered.

“It’s Addy, and I’ve got some news. You’ll want to hear this.” Sung-soo’s breath was more than she could bear and she turned to walk to the corner of her office. “We got one through to an examiner. He’s on a tight deadline and wants to meet next week. He’s got his doubts, and we need to dispel them.”

“Can you meet with him?”

“Yes, but I need the catalyst.”

She listened as Quinn cleared his throat. This was it. She was going to find out if this whole venture was a ruse.

“Did I mention we’re having some production issues? Jeyhu has his team working round the clock.”

“You did, but none of that matters. If you want your patent, you’ll be here Tuesday morning with the catalyst. We should leave the office by nine in case there is any traffic. I’ll see you then.”

Addy ended the call before Quinn could respond. She tossed Sung-soo the phone, who barely managed a two-handed grab, then plunged into her chair and kicked her feet onto her desk. “It’s show time. Let’s see how you boys perform.”

Sung-soo stormed out just as Janice bustled in with an armful of documents.

“Sorry for the light reading, but this is what Examiner Daniel Johnston found in his search.”

“What do we know about this Johnston fellow?”

“Next on my list,” Janice said. “I’m going to run a report right now.”

Because all of the patent filings were public documents, a host of analytics companies had scoured the Patent Office databases for statistics on every facet of an examiner’s career, from how long he took to allow cases to how many went on appeal.

“Thanks, Janice. That’s why you’re here,” Addy said, her head already buried in the first patent from the stack.