PTO Goes on a Hiring Spree in Effort to Reduce Patent Backlog

With a backlog of more than 700,000 patent applications, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office needs all the help it can get. It'll have plenty to choose from - in response to a recent patent examiner vacancy announcement, the agency was flooded with more than 4,000 applications.

The PTO will hire 250 of them, part of a push to reduce chronic backlog problems. It now takes about three years on average for a patent to issue.

Training new examiners is a time-consuming process, and normally takes eight months. Given the current workload, the PTO is looking to shorten this process. The agency has reached out to former examiners and encouraged them to apply, according to an agency spokesperson.

The PTO hopes to hire another 350 examiners later this year, and (subject to budget approval) another 1,000 in FY 2011 and 1,000 more in FY 2012.

Throughout FY2009, the agency had a self-imposed hiring freeze in place. The PTO’s budget is linked to fees paid by patent and trademark applicants. But in tough economic times, applications declined and the cash-strapped agency was unable to hire new employees.

In 2009, 15 – 20 examiners left the agency every two weeks, according to the examiners’ union, the Patent Office Professional Association. This attrition has brought staffing down to about 6,000 examiners.

In a don’t-call-us -we’ll-call-you move, the agency posted the hiring schedule for the new vacancies online. Candidates who make the first cut will be notified this week, with all offers made by May 3. New examiners can start work on May 10, June 7 or July 6.

The positions pay between $69,899 and $90,866 a year – no weekend of evening work expected. The bare qualitifactions: you must be a U.S. citizen, have a college degree in science or engineering, and be willing to work at the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

Comments

[Scoot]

25 months is the correct number for first action pendency -- 36 months is the number for total pendency.

[Scoot]

" I guess since 70% leave in the first 5 years, who cares what your hours are, your on your way out when you walk in!"

Interesting ... that's only a little more than the attrition rate at America's universities...

[please give me a job]

Has anybody heard anything yet?

[freddy]

"The positions pay between $69,899 and $90,866 a year – no weekend of evening work expected"

typo...but what a load of crap.... its impossible, literally, to get hired in at 90k a year. 69 is what 90% of the people come in at. you better plan to work weekends also. I guess since 70% leave in the first 5 years, who cares what your hours are, your on your way out when you walk in!

[Jenna Greene]

You're right - I was looking at first action pendency, which is 25 months.

[Chris]

Check yo facts! I wish it only took 2 yrs for a patent to issue.