U. of Penn. Prof. R. Polk Wagner is overseeing the development of a Patent Quality Index designed to "provide[] information about the quality of patents (and patent applications) quickly, cheaply, and transparently."

Overview is here. The target is to have an initial program in place by early 2007.

Potential uses:

* A prospective patent applicant could use aspects of the PQI to evaluate the relative quality of the drafted application.
* The PTO could use the PQI to triage or otherwise allocate resources to patent applications depending on their PQI scores.
* Competitors could use the PQI to quickly and cheaply evaluate the quality of relevant patents in their field.
* Patent-holders could use the PQI to evaluate the quality of patents in their portfolio, identifying weak or strong examples.
* Researchers can use the PQI in aggregate to track and evaluate patent quality issues, such as overall trends, industry differences, etc.