How Long Does Patent And Trademark Prosecution Take? (2013 Edition)

Each year, the USPTO releases a Performance and Accountability Report with useful statistics about allowance rates, average pendency, and other details in patent and trademark prosecution matters.  Last week, the USPTO released its Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2013. This means that it's time for IP Spotlight's annual review of the question:  "how long does it take to receive a patent or registered trademark?"

To answer that question, here are a few highlights from the USPTO report:

Patents:   The USPTO continued to reduce patent application pendency in FY 2013. The average time between filing and first office action was 18.2 months, representing a decrease of approximately 17% decrease as compared to FY 2012 data. The average total pendency also dropped by 10.2% to 29.1 months in 2013. These improvements occurred during year when the USPTO received over 600,000 patent applications for the first time ever — a 6.2% increase in the number of