Fergie's Tech Blog

No End in Sight for Growing Patent Backlog

An AP newswire article, via The Mercury News, reports that:

The red folders are everywhere at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Inside are patent applications, stacked on examiners' desks, pushed by the cartload along the underground hallways of the buildings, filed away by the thousands.

The patent backlog is easy to see at the agency's five-building campus in Alexandria. Va. Inventors wait on average 31 months for a patent decision as examiners slog through 675,000 pending applications, a number that is expected to hit a record 800,000 by year-end.

posted by Fergie @ 4/30/2007 12:56:00 PM