Workflow may Pickup at US Patent and Trademark Office by the Third or Fourth Quarter of this Year

The workflow at the US Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") has slowed down dramatically over the past couple of years.  First Office Actions, which historically issued within 12-18 months after filing a new patent application are now taking over two years.  Even though the delays are added to the patent life under the American Inventors' Protection Act, the delay creates problems for inventors and patent owners because they do not know know the extent of the patentability of their inventions until the USPTO issues an opinion on patentability or when a patent actually issues.

In an effort to speed up the slow turning gears at the USPTO, a hiring campaign in underway.  The hiring is targeting people who either have patent examining experience or experience working in the Intellectual Property field and who have the skills necessary to examine patent applications.  The recent announcement drew in over 4,000 applications.  The USPTO has published a schedule that describes when decisions should be made on who will be hired from the large bank of applicants.  According to the schedule, individuals who are hired could start work as early as May 10th, June 7th or July 6th, 2010.

This is all potentially great news to the patent community and to inventors and invention owners.  We will all benefit when the USPTO returns to a reasonably paced workflow.