Bulletin: Patent Examiners Are Not At Their Desks, Because They Don't Have Any

Somebody somewhere is pissed off, because patent examiners at the USPTO are apparently not putting in time sitting at their desks interfacing with their computers.

According to this story in today's Washington Post, the Office of the Inspector General conducted an investigation prompted by one or more whistleblowers who think that Examiner are "gaming" the work-at-home system.  

Let's just remember a few things, shall we?

1. The work-at-home thing was necessitated because there isn't enough space at the USPTO for all the examiners to have someplace to sit.
2. Before the USPTO moved to its new campus, back when they were all crammed in to makeshift space in Crystal City, VA, there was PLENTY of gaming of the system that went on, notwithstanding the fact that the examiners were purportedly sitting at their government-provided desks in their supervisor-monitored offices.  Anybody remember "mortgaging" files?
3. Does anybody really think that the solution to the patent "quality" problem is to have examiners sitting at their computers from 9-5 Monday through Friday?

But by all means, let's have the USPTO lease a couple thousand more offices in Alexandria, and chain the examiners to their desks.  That'll ensure that the taxpayers applicants are getting their money's worth out of the examination process.