Patent Dashboard

written by Elizabeth Gearhart, Ph.D., Patent Agent at Gearhart Law
www.GearhartLaw.com

We all want more transparency from our government, don’t we? Well, the USPTO heard our pleas, and they’ve launched a ‘Patents Dashboard’. It shows a variety of stats for recent months, and some for previous years too. You can see how long it takes for each step of the patent process, and what the backlog in applications is, along with other types of data. Right now, there are a little under 600,000 applications waiting to be examined. Entrepreneurism is alive and well in the US! Scroll down and you can also see that the number of patent examiners has gone up in September, to 7,931 compared to 7,778 in August. That means the United States patent system generated at least these153 new jobs in a month, and probably many more if you count other businesses that use or depend on the patent system. Don’t worry, it’s not your tax dollars paying those extra PTO salaries, it’s filing fees and other fees (the patent office is self-sustaining). The increase in examiners also means that your patent application may get examined a little sooner than it would with fewer examiners on staff.

To me, these stats show how important entrepreneurs and inventors are to the American economy, which I believe is one of the best places for innovators and visionaries.

You can access the Patents Dashboard at:

http://www.uspto.gov/dashboards/patents/main.dashxml

About the Author

Richard Gearhart, Esq. is the founder of Gearhart Law and the host of a weekly radio show for entrepreneurs called “Passage to Profit”. He has built a firm with an international presence that helps entrepreneurs from around the world with their patent, trademark and copyright needs. Richard commands a breadth of experience that comes from nearly 30 years of practice in the writing and prosecution of hundreds of patents, and in all aspects of Intellectual Property law. In 2022, Richard was recognized by ROI New Jersey as a 2022 ROI Influencer in the Law List category for being one of the best of the best in New Jersey for intellectual property law. Gearhart Law emerged from Richard’s passion for entrepreneurship and startups and his belief that entrepreneurship grows the economy and creates jobs. When we started Gearhart Law, our goal was to help and support the new business ventures of 500 entrepreneurs and inventors. After 12 years, the firm has far surpassed this goal; today, we look forward to helping even more inventors and entrepreneurs get off to a great start and reach their own goals.