The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) seems to have transitioned to mandatory telework with an unprecedented number of employees accessing agency IT systems from home.  The agency discloses that, on average, over 13,000 secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections to the headquarters campus occur every day, which is a 75% increase over the daily average prior to the pandemic.

An average of 6,000 participants hold 1,200 virtual meetings using the agency’s secure teleconferencing tools, supported by five system upgrades and configuration enhancements, which connect USPTO employees, contractors, and the public.

Over 9,000 patent examiners and trademark examining attorneys working virtually continue to process patent and trademark applications with examiner productivity improved by 3%.

Utilizing these tools, the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) were among the first tribunals in the nation to conduct virtual hearings, allowing pending appeals to continue on schedule. In the year 2020, PTAB held more than 1,024 all-virtual hearings, 213 of which had public attendees.