For our final report on our audit of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO’s) management of trademark pendency, our objective was to determine whether USPTO exercised effective oversight and management of trademark pendency. Specifically, we assessed USPTO’s development, monitoring, and reporting of trademark pendency measures, as well as the effectiveness of selected pendency reduction efforts. We found that despite some progress in reducing pendency from its highest levels, USPTO still needs to improve oversight of trademark application pendency. Specifically, we found that I. USPTO missed its pendency targets for multiple years and provided insufficient information in its reporting of pendency goals and results and II. USPTO’s projections of future pendency reduction may not be achievable.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 1. We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to develop controls to ensure that pendency targets and revisions to the targets are clearly documented and included in any public materials. | |||||
| 2. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 2. We recommend the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to adopt a long-term pendency goal that accounts for stakeholder needs to allow for timely business decisions, particularly for international trademark applications subject to the Madrid Protocol. | |||||
| 3. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 3. We recommend the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to set targets for the trademark pendency-related KPIs in the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan. | |||||
| 4. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 4. We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks update the trademark production model to include supportable, data-driven estimates of overtime usage. | |||||
| 5. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 5. We recommend that the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to formalize a methodology for estimating and validating efficiency gains in the trademark production model. | |||||
| 6. | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| 6. We recommend the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office direct the Commissioner for Trademarks to develop and implement a Trademarks workforce action plan that includes strategies to address challenges in recruitment and retention, milestones, roles of key organization components, measures of success, and a process to continuously assess and revise the plan. | |||||
