Even the USPTO knows.
Lince 21, Tim Lince has a BA in politics and media and has also worked as a research executive at a range of television production companies, 7/1/2021, “An unwanted milestone” – alarm as USPTO backlog approaches 1 million trademarks”, https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/article/unwanted-milestone-alarm-uspto-backlog-approaches-1-million-trademarks
The frustration being caused by the backlog is also being felt at the USPTO as well. As WTR recently reported, a former examining attorney revealed that “demoralisation has become a big issue for PTO examiners” – with three key issues raised that the registry must address: rising to the logistical challenges imposed by covid-19 restrictions, managing the ongoing delays (and concerns over fraud) caused by the influx of trademark applications, and maintaining (or raising) staff morale. Positively, though, the source said that USPTO management “are certainly cognisant of how bad it has gotten”.
Indeed, that awareness of the issue was confirmed through a recent blog post penned by USPTO trademark commissioner David Gooder. In it, he explained how trademark applications “have surged to unprecedented levels” since late last year – acknowledging that the “backlog is increasing”. He added: “As a result, applicants may have to wait longer for initial processing of their application, receiving an office action, processing of responses to office actions, and reviewing of post-registration filings.”
In response, Gooder explained how the registry is “taking steps to increase productivity, while maintaining the high quality our applicants expect”. Those steps include “implementing information technology solutions and system enhancements to process applications even faster”, the hiring of “more examining attorneys and staff, “finding better ways to distribute the workload among our current attorneys and staff”, and “looking at every step in the examination process to find ways to increase efficiency”.
Ultimately, Gooder concluded, he is hopeful that those steps will “eventually bring our processing times back to customary levels”.
The USPTO will not be celebrating this week’s milestone of the trademark application backlog reaching 900,000 for the first time. Crucially, however, all parties will be hoping that the next major milestone – 1 million – is never reached. But the filing count continues to rise rapidly, and it is unclear whether the trendline is going to be reversed any time soon.