Systemic integrity failures in US patent prosecution: plagiarized predatory patenting and the laundering of technical ideas

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Abstract The US patent system grants exclusive rights subject to full and candid disclosure during prosecution. This obligation is reflected in 37 C.F.R. § 1.56 and reinforced by the prohibition on false statements under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, the Rules of Professional Conduct under 37 C.F.R. Part 11, and judicial doctrines including inequitable conduct and Walker Process antitrust liability. Together, these provisions form the integrity framework of the US patent system. This article examines a prosecution-stage pattern described as plagiarized predatory patenting, in which patented inventions, published applications or confidential technical disclosures are appropriated and filed as overlapping patent applications structured to obscure substantive overlap. Two principal mechanisms are identified: (i) Shatter and Scatter, which fragments a copied invention across multiple independently examined applications and (ii) the Slow Walk, which fabricates a sequential filing trajectory that progressively converges towards a target invention. Although the regulatory framework is doctrinally capable of addressing such conduct, institutional mechanisms for detecting and responding to it during examination are limited. The principal structural issue concerns enforcement timing. Post-grant remedies operate only after issuance, by which point market and competitive effects may have occurred. The article proposes administrative measures, including deterrence through consequential enforcement and structured third-party candour protests. These measures aim to reinforce examination integrity and improve patent quality within the existing regulatory architecture.

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