The PTO has begun reporting the “average filing date of applications receiving a first office action” broken down by technology center. (Link). I took those most recent numbers and calculated an average backlog in months. The results are sorted below:
Tech Center |
Tech Center Description |
Average Backlog (Months) |
1660 | Plants | 10 |
2900 | Designs | 13 |
3640 | Aeronautics, agriculture, fishing, trapping, vermin destroying, plant and animal husbandry, weaponry, nuclear systems and licensing & review | 14 |
2810 | Static memory and digital logic | 15 |
3740 | Thermal and combustion technology, motive and fluid power systems | 15 |
3610 | Surface transportation | 15 |
3670 | Wells, earth boring/moving/working, excavating, mining, harvesters, bridges, roads, petroleum, closures, connections, and miscellaneous hardware | 15 |
3630 | Static structures, supports and furniture | 16 |
2890 | Semiconductor, Electrical, Optical Systems & Components | 16 |
3680 | Machine elements and power transmissions | 16 |
2870/2880 | Liquid crystals, optical elements, optical systems, fiber optics, lasers, electric lamps, registers, optics measuring and radiant energy | 17 |
3750 | Fluid handling and dispensing, and Textile Manufacturing and Apparel | 17 |
2820 | Semiconductors and electrical circuits | 17 |
3720 | Packages and containers, manufacturing devices and processes, machine tools and hand tools | 17 |
3650 | Material handling and article handling | 17 |
3710 | Amusement and education devices | 17 |
1720 | Fluid separation and agitation, metal foundry, welding, plastic molding apparatus, fuels and related compositions | 18 |
1620 | Organic chemistry | 18 |
3660 | Computerized vehicle controls and navigation, radio wave optical and acoustic wave communication | 18 |
2850/2860 | Photocopying, recorders, measuring and testing, printing | 18 |
1750 | Chemical products and processes, solar cells and sputtering apparatuses | 19 |
1710 | Synthetic resins | 19 |
1770 | Stock materials and miscellaneous articles | 19 |
2830/2840 | Power generation and distribution, music, electrical components and control circuits | 20 |
1730 | Glass and paper making, tobacco, non-metallic molding, adhesive bonding, tires and coating apparatus | 22 |
3760 | Body treatment, kinestherapy, and exercising | 22 |
1650 | Fermentation, microbiology, isolated and recombinant proteins/enzymes | 23 |
1610 | Organic compounds: bio-affecting, body treating, drug delivery, steroids, herbicides, pesticides, cosmetics, and drugs | 23 |
1760 | Food technology, petroleum processing, coating and etching | 23 |
2670 | Computer graphics | 24 |
1740 | Metallurgy, electrochemistry, cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing, analytical chemistry and wave energy | 24 |
1630 | Molecular biology, bioinformatics, nucleic acids, recombinant DNA and RNA, Gene regulation, gene therapy, nucleic acid amplification, animals and recombinant plants, combinatorial/computational chemistry. | 26 |
2650 | Dynamic information storage and retrieval | 26 |
2680 | Radio Telecommunications | 26 |
2180 | Computer architecture | 27 |
1640 | Immunology, receptor/ligands, cytokines, recombinant hormones, and molecular biology thereof | 28 |
2630 | Digital, optical, and general communications | 30 |
2110 | Computer architecture | 30 |
2640 | Audio, speech processing and wired telephone | 30 |
2120 | Miscellaneous computer applications | 31 |
2160/2170 | Graphical user interface, data bases | 34 |
3620 | Electronic Commerce | 35 |
2190 | Interprocess Communications & Software Development | 36 |
2620 | Image analysis, | 37 |
2140/2150 | Computer networks | 38 |
2610 | Television | 39 |
2130 | Cryptography, security | 39 |
2660 | Multiplex communication | 40 |
Although this is unconfirmed, I believe that these numbers are somewhat skewed because they include continuing applications that generally have a shorter delay before receiving a first office action. As such, the expected delay for a newly filed non-continuation may be greater than that listed. Nonetheless, the table is useful for providing a new applicant a better estimate of the expected timetable.
Notes:
- Thanks to Russ Krajec and Carl Oppedahl for the heads-up on this PTO practice.
- Link: Stephen Nipper has provided a concise explanation of how to use the pendency table.
- John Doll, the PTO’s Acting Commissioner for Patents recently gave a presentation on this and other topics at the NAPP meeting: File Attachment: John Doll Presentation.ppt (1209 KB)