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In-depth articles discussing the latest topics of interest to the USPTO and the intellectual property community.
Acting Director Derrick Brent speaks from a USPTO podium at the agency's headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, on January 15, 2025. In the background behind Brent are flags, including those of the United States and the USPTO.
Patent pendency goals: A road map for the future
5 min read

At America’s Innovation Agency, we recognize the tremendous responsibility and honor we have to examine the hundreds of thousands of patent applications we receive each year, thoroughly and reliably, and to make informed decisions whether each application should receive a patent grant. Patents are a vital part of our country’s economic strength and success. We lead the world in innovation, thanks in no small part to our intellectual property system that fosters new inventions through patents.

Patents

Recent Posts

The webpage of the USPTO's new Trademark Center platform
Trademark Center—a new way to apply to register your trademark
3 min read

We recently shared that on January 18, 2025, Trademark Center will become the only way to apply for a trademark registration. While you can still submit applications in the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) until then, I invite you to join the thousands of customers who have already tried Trademark Center. I think you’ll appreciate some of the updates and new capabilities as you get familiar with the system.

Trademarks
USPTO Director Kathi Vidal (on the left) and Deputy Director Derrick Brent (on the right) are seated next to each other on July 18 at an agencywide town hall. They both face the audience, and Vidal is speaking and gesturing. The event was held in the Clara Barton Auditorium on the headquarters campus in Alexandria, Virginia.
Quality U.S. patents drive our economy and solve world problems
12 min read

Patents – which help generate more than $8 trillion in economic activity each year in U.S. intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries – are critically important to incentivizing innovation and investment, growing America’s economy, and solving worldwide challenges such as climate change and pandemics. But patents only serve their intended purpose if they are robust and reliable.

Patents
A man in a suit and tie sits at a desk on a stage surrounded by a group of adults and two girls as their photo is taken.
Advancing the AIA’s goal to strengthen the U.S. IP system
10 min read

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), the most significant patent legislation of the last 25 years, was enacted in 2011. Today we’re taking a moment to look back at one of the biggest changes the AIA made: the creation of new and efficient proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

Patents
A man and a woman stand over a mixing bowl in a kitchen studio, their hands covered in a white, gooey substance.
Giving thanks to our inventors
5 min read

If you’ve ever helped cook a delicious Thanksgiving feast, you know just how much effort goes into the meal. From peeling spuds for a classic side dish, to getting the perfect roast on your chosen bird, to the dreaded clean-up duty after everyone has had their fill of pie, this celebration is made possible by hard work – and generations of inventors. The USPTO and Cade Museum have teamed up to explore Thanksgiving through innovation education.

Education
Robert Bryant in a yellow polo shirt and khaki shorts with a National Inventors Hall of Fame medal around his next observes a young girl with brown hair, blue shirt, and blue shorts explain her project in a classroom
Changing the world through innovation: Celebrating and empowering people with disabilities
6 min read

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The USPTO’s focus on inclusive innovation is to help lift up innovators, including the 29% of American adults with disabilities. Through our National Strategy for Inclusive Innovation, among other initiatives, we're working to make USPTO resources more accessible to people with disabilities.

Advancing innovation
Then-President Bill Clinton signs an appropriations bill that includes the Patent and Trademark Office Efficiency Act into law, in the Rose Garden on November 29, 1999. Clinton is seated and pictured in the middle of the image, surrounded by police and other officials who are standing. The desk Clinton is using to sign the bill says on the front, 'a strong budget for a strong America.' The photo was taken by David Scull and provided courtesy of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.
Celebrating 25 years of USPTO’s Public Advisory Committees
10 min read

The turn of the new millennium was a time of expansive change and great opportunity. With the digital revolution reaching across the globe, the majority of Americans now had a computer in their home. Rapidly developing technologies drove new sectors of innovation, as well as expanding opportunities for businesses small and large alike.

Advancing innovation
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