The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (“PTO”) recently released data indicating record levels of trademark application filings since the first quarter of 2020.
Over 260,000 trademark applications were filed by Q1 2021 compared to over 151,000 applications filed by Q1 2020. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a substantial increase in trademark applications filed by the end of 2020. Specifically, Q2 2020 saw 157,877 applications filed, Q3 2020 saw 180,961 applications filed, and Q4 2020 saw 247,807 applications filed. The majority of trademark applications through Q1 and Q3 2020 were filed on an intent-to-use basis. The average time for an Examining Attorney to be assigned to a trademark application has increased from 2.5-3 months to around 4-5 months. Please note that the U.S. PTO’s target number of months from the date of application filing to the Examining Attorney’s first office action is between 2.5 and 4.5 months. By Q1 2021, the total number of new application classes prior to the first office action awaiting examination was 358,298. By Q1 2021, 93,580 trademark applications matured to registrations. Similarly, there has been a gradual increase in registrations since 2018. Learn more on “Trademarks Data Q1 2021 at a glance“.