On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued two Executive Orders (EOs) that likely will affect the pendency of patent and trademark applications. The EOs mandate (1) a general hiring freeze for the federal government and (2) a Return to Office (RTO) order requiring all federal employees to return to in-person work on a full-time basis.
As of December 2024, patent application pendency, i.e., time to a first Office Action, stood at 20.3 months and total trademark application pendency stood at 12.7 months. In July 2024, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) had articulated a plan to reduce pendency by increased examiner hirings for both patents and trademarks that now does not appear to be possible under the current EOs. To date, the Trump administration has not articulated a plan to reduce pendency.
Additionally, it is not clear how the RTO will be implemented by the USPTO nor how it can be accomplished in the required 30 days. Reported figures put nearly 13,000 of the USPTO’s approximately 14,000 employees working remotely and the agency has functioned under what was long considered the federal government’s model telework program that has allowed examiners to work remotely since 1997. Remote work has long been used an incentive to recruit to the examining corps top engineering and legal talent from across the United States.
The effect of the EOs on retaining talent and maintaining the USPTO’s operation remains to be seen. Any mass resignation, or ongoing inability to hire examiners, is likely to adversely affect the already long pendency times.
Parsons Behle & Latimer has intellectual property attorneys who can assist you in navigating these turbulent waters for all your patent and trademark needs.
