In June 2013, the White House issued a series of Executive Actions concerning high-tech patent issues. Executive Action No. 2 concerned functional claiming, specifically, (i) improving functional claim clarity; and (ii) possible glossary usage in patent specifications. The White House assigned Executive Action No. 2 to the USPTO, stating: "The AIA made important improvements to the examination process and overall patent quality, but stakeholders remain concerned about patents with overly broad claims-particularly in the context of software. The PTO will provide new targeted training to its examiners on scrutiny of functional claims and will, over the next six months develop strategies to improve claim clarity, such as by use of glossaries in patent specifications to assist examiners in the software field."

The Glossary Pilot has ended and is no longer accepting applications.