U.S. Patent office swamped by huge Backlog

[Anonymous]

U.S. patent office swamped by backlog
Without more funding, wait time could top 5 years


For most inventors, developing and perfecting an idea takes far more time, energy and money than it does to get a patent. But with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office drowning in paper, the patent process has become a frustrating waiting game.


Unless long-overdue reforms are put in place and the agency’s budget is expanded, the current backlog will balloon further, and the average time it takes to win a patent — now more than two years — will double in five years, according to the acting head of the agency, Jon W. Dudas.

And that, he says, could have a chilling effect on innovation.
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-Jeb