Patent Office Will Keep More Money & Act Faster

August 18, 2010 - President Barack Obama has signed legislation that will enable the the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to keep more of the revenue it generates from patent-filing fees. For years, the USPTO has been overwhelmed by a gargantuan backlog of unexamined patents, many of them for technology innovations. The under-funded agency currently has 1.2 million applications pending, of which more than 700,000 have not even been opened for preliminary examination. Cash generated by filing fees has previously disappeared into Federal funds and has not been kept by the USPTO. The new law gives the USPTO the authority to spend an additional $129m of the fees the agency will collect in 2010. The additional funds will be used to hire new examiners, enable additional examiner overtime and improve USPTO processes and IT systems.

More at USPTO.