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USPTO touts AI tools and backlog cuts as lawmakers press on morale, regional offices and trademark delays
Summary
Director Squires defended USPTO efforts to reduce a historic backlog (he cited 837,932 unexamined patent applications), described AI pilots that provide prior art to applicants before first office action, and said the agency is addressing examiner morale while pursuing centralized outreach that closed the Denver regional office to save about $3.8 million per year; members pressed for data on certified-copy delays for foreign priority.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Squires told the House Judiciary Committee that the agency is deploying artificial intelligence to speed examination and reduce a long-running backlog, while lawmakers pressed him on staff morale and regional‑office reorganization.
"We just announced our first agentic AI trademark classification tool. Five months of manual searching is now a five‑second outcome," Squires said in his opening testimony, adding that an AI search assistant supplies a top‑10 list of prior art to examiners before a first office action.
The director also cited a historic backlog figure: "It rose to a, historic high of…
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