The USPTO is dealing with application backlog now – that means more lawsuits hit the courts and ruins judicial efficiency.
OASBA 24 – Office Of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration (Created by Congress in 1976, the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government), 1-30-2024, "Roundtable Recap – USPTO Trademark Pendency Rates," SBA's Office of Advocacy, https://advocacy.sba.gov/2024/01/30/roundtable-recap-uspto-trademark-pendency-rates/
On January 15, 2024, the Office of Advocacy held a roundtable with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to discuss pendency rates for trademark applications. Pendency rates represent how quickly the Trademark Office can issue or deny a trademark application. The Commissioner of the Trademark Office, David Gooder, and Deputy Commissioner of Trademark Operations, Dan Vavonese, joined the roundtable to discuss steps aimed at reducing the backlog in issuing trademarks.
The roundtable focused on the rise in trademark application pendency, and a surge in received applications has led to the average application review to go from under 4 months to over 14 months. During the pandemic, there was an increase in bad faith applications for trademarks, including filing trademark applications without an intent to use it in the U.S. and attempting to register a trademark with an identical or confusingly similar existing trademark. This led to spikes in applications in September and December of 2020. The agency aims to reduce the trademark pendency to four or five months but invites feedback from small businesses as to what goals and benchmarks the agency should set for applications.