U.S. Patent Operations May Shut Down in Second Week of February
- Agency recalculates reserves that have kept it operating
- Shutdown could delay hundreds of thousands of applications
A geodesic dome sculpture, U.S. Patent No. 2,682,235, stands in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said it may have to cease patent operations in the second week of February if the partial government shutdown continues, though it has money for trademark work through mid-April.
Any furlough of staff could mean significant delays in reviewing the tens of thousands of applications on inventions for things like telecommunications hardware and the next cutting-edge medical treatments. Now it takes on average 15.8 months before a patent applicant can expect a preliminary response from an examiner. More than 640,000 patent applications were filed in fiscal 2018.