By Donald Zuhn --
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it had met or exceeded all of its goals for fiscal year 2011 (FY2011). The most significant goal to be met on the patent side was the reduction of unexamined patent applications to 669,625, which constituted a five-year low and represented a 10% drop in the backlog since FY2009 when Director David Kappos took office. The reduction in the application backlog was all the more impressive given an average annual increase in application filings of 5%. Additional data regarding USPTO performance in FY2011 will be made available next month when the Office releases its annual performance and accountability report.
That's good news. Kappos seems to have done a great job with the patent office so far. Now, with the USPTO's fee increase, as well as the rumored openings of satellite offices in Detroit and elsewhere, let's hope that patent office productivity will continue to climb, and the backlog will continue to decrease.
http://www.generalpatent.com/blog/
Posted by: patent litigation | November 01, 2011 at 01:08 PM