USPTO REPORTS PROGRESS ON PATENT APPLICATION BACKLOG REDUCTION
Last week the USPTO announced that it has reached several milestones in its effort to reduce patent pendency and unexamined application inventory. For the first time in nearly a decade, the cumulative output of first office actions within a fiscal year surpassed cumulative filings within that year. And as of April 6, the inventory of unexamined patent applications stood at 776,995, down from a high of 837,928 in January 2025.
The office also reported progress against its oldest unexamined applications, stating that it is on track to achieve its fiscal year goal of virtually eliminating the inventory of applications that would otherwise exceed 36 months. USPTO Director JOHN SQUIRES attributed the results to examiner productivity and cited ongoing AI tool deployment and new examiner hiring as factors expected to support continued improvement. The USPTO’s Patent Dashboard provides additional pendency and performance data.
PARTICIPATE IN IPO’S GROWING THE PIPELINE INITIATIVE
 |
Growing the Pipeline is an organization-wide initiative to encourage early career IP professionals to engage more actively in IPO and help build the next generation of IP leaders. The initiative focuses first on committee participation, encouraging senior members to support early career colleagues by creating structured opportunities to contribute, speak, and develop leadership skills. Visit the IPO website to explore and join an IPO committee.
All members are also encouraged to update their IPO CONNECT profiles to indicate interest in speaking, helping expand and diversify IPO programming. Members with ideas to strengthen the leadership pipeline are invited to contact Sam Grover.