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ARTICLE · 04 AUGUST 2025

Patent Strategies In Response To Recent U.S. Developments: Expected Changes And Filing Strategies

Stites & Harbison PLLC
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has had a turbulent start to 2025. The U.S. administration issued an executive order implementing a federal hiring freeze on January 20, 2025.

GlobalIntellectual Property
Grant M. Ehrlich Ph.D.
Grant M. Ehrlich Ph.D.
Youngmin Lee Ph.D.
Youngmin Lee Ph.D.
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Federal hiring freeze, return-to-office mandate, and layoffs

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has had a turbulent start to 2025. The U.S. administration issued an executive order implementing a federal hiring freeze on January 20, 2025. This action halted the USPTO's plans to recruit approximately 800 new employees, primarily patent examiners.

Also, the same executive order mandated a return to in-person work, requiring more than 90% of the USPTO employees – including patent examiners, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges and supervisory patent examiners (SPEs) – to return to physical offices. Ironically, many of these employees may not have physical offices to return to. The USPTO has operated under a remote work model for over two decades (having launched its telework program in 1997), and some patent examiners were even hired directly into remote positions. Additionally, as part of an initiative by the General Services

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