Why It Matters
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is unlikely to cut its patent backlog to under 599,000 applications before 2031 unless patent examiner attrition falls, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on patent backlog reduction risks, published Nov. 5. The examiner attrition rate rose from 2.9% in fiscal year 2020 to 7.6% in fiscal year 2025, and the analysis holds even if examiners do more work.
The Big Picture
The U.S. patent system generally lets a patent owner exclude others from making, using, or selling a patented invention for up to 20 years. USPTO examiners review applications to decide whether inventions meet legal patentability requirements. The agency has long had a backlog. GAO reported in 2007 that its examiner hiring efforts were insufficient to address it, and applicants in recent years have waited more than 20 months for an initial decision.
The backlog of applications awaiting an initial decision reached about 838,000 in January 2025. In September 2025, the USPTO announced the under-599,000 goal without a time frame; the backlog was last at that level in 2020. By August, it stood at about 756,000, though average applicant waits for a final patentability decision had grown by 11% since January 2025.
To get there, the USPTO is requiring examiners to review more applications, has decreased examiner training, and has expanded AI patent search tools. The patent examiners' union and former agency officials told GAO the efforts "may not be sustainable" and could contribute to attrition. Stakeholders said the AI tools are not yet effective because they do not reliably return useful search results.
GAO reports that the agency is seeking to hire more examiners and that the 12-month examiner attrition rate was 7.6% as of August. The USPTO paused a survey that gave stakeholders views on responsiveness and examination quality, and it did not provide GAO with the requested information. GAO says it "was asked" to review factors related to the backlog.
The Bottom Line
The USPTO received one recommendation, the only one in the report's table: Its director should assess and address the risks that backlog reduction efforts pose to examiner retention and examination quality. The recommendation remains open, and the USPTO did not provide comments.
The recommendation carries no deadline. GAO says it will provide updated information once it confirms what actions the agency has taken. GAO says that assessing and addressing the risks "could better position the USPTO to balance its efforts to reduce the backlog."
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