Many of us patent practitioners like to think we are somewhat immune to politics, but unfortunately that is not always the case. As the threat of a government shutdown looms later today, January 19, 2018, there were questions on its affect on the operations of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. On December 7, 2017, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross issued a report, Plan for Orderly Shutdown Due to Lapse of Congressional Appropriations. In the report, under “Services Available During a Lapse,” patent and trademark application processing is included. The report states that: “the USPTO anticipates it has sufficient funds from other than current year appropriations to continue full operations for a brief period.” So, in other words, the USPTO will continue operating in spite of a government shutdown.
While national parks will close and the FDA will stop approvals, the USPTO will continue patent grants and trademark registrations. Go figure.