2016’s trademark filings rose 5.2% yoy, and trademarks on their way to registration jumped a huge 10% compared with 2015, pushing 2016 to be a record breaking year for trademarks.
The USPTO’s Performance and Accountability Report for fiscal year 2016 reports a total of 530,270 trademark filings, as opposed to 503,889 the previous year, which equated to a 10.7% increase yoy. However, the trademarks registered in 2016 shot up to 309,188, as opposed to the previous year’s 282,091, signifying a 9.6% increase.
In the face of such an increase, the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s goals of improving prosecution times and quality were met, as the average first action pendency has been reported at 3.1 months, with the total pendency average reaching the 9.8 month mark. The office’s goals for these times were 3.5 and 12 months respectively.
On top of this, the office last week announced the appointment of new patent and trademark advisory committee members, for PPAC, Marylee Jenkins, Chair of PPAC, Jeffrey M. Sears, and Bernard (Bernie) J. Knight, Jr, while for TPAC, William (Bill) G. Barber, Vice Chair of TPAC, Brian J. Winterfeldt, and Ilene B. Tannen.
