Will the Sequester Affect my Trademark Application?
As part of the endless series of Washington financial hijinks, the so-called sequester went into effect last Thursday, February 28. The sequester is a series of spending cuts amounting to $1.2 trillion over nine years, with $85 billion coming due in the remainder of Fiscal Year 2013. Given that these cuts impact all sorts of Federal agencies, I couldn’t help but think about the poor, neglected US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Will trademark applications be impacted by the sequester?
When a trademark application is submitted to the USPTO, the typical wait time for a review and response is six months. Most of us who do trademark work day in and day out think that’s plenty long, thanks. I’m sure all my fellow trademark lawyers agree that one of the most common questions from client is, “Have you heard anything about my trademark application yet?” Certainly, none of us are looking for any further delays in this important process.
To my knowledge, the USPTO hasn’t released any official statement regarding the sequester’s effect on their business. Trademark blogger Erik Pelton cited a report from the Office of Management and Budget stating that the effect on the USPTO in FY 2013 will be $242 million. But what does that actually mean in terms of the timing of trademark filings?
When sequestration was looming a few months ago, the Patent Office Professional Association (POPA – an independent union) put out a note stating that the planned hit to the USPTO would not be likely to result in furloughs of USPTO workers. This is because the USPTO is only legally allowed to actually spend what it takes in in fees. From the POPA post:
Under the current Continuing Resolution, we are funded at our FY12 appropriation level, i.e., about 2.7 Billion. However, our current fee income is running somewhat less than 2.5 B. So even if we took off the 242M sequestration, it only brings us down to about what we are taking in through fees anyhow.
However, they went on to state:
POPA has been having many conversations with USPTO management on this subject and everyone agrees that any type of furloughs would be highly unlikely and a very last resort. There are other steps that would be taken first such as reducing hiring, budget cuts, reducing/stopping overtime, or even cutting back on awards, before furloughs would become a consideration.
It stands to reason that even without furloughs, reducing hiring and overtime could negatively impact response time.
So it seems that the answer is, we don’t really know how the sequester will affect trademark applications, either in 2013 or in the unlikely (well, who knows) case that the law stays in place for the full nine years. If you’re concerned about the timing of your trademark applications or other filings, here’s some time-honored advice: call or write your congressional representatives and tell them to get this all sorted out so everyone can get back to business. And while they’re at it, see if they can figure out a way to speed up USPTO response times to something a bit better than six months.
