Inc and Josh Gerben Discuss DOGE’s Potential Impact on the USPTO

It currently takes approximately 10 months to receive a trademark registration, however as DOGE starts its review of the USPTO, this timeline could increase dramatically.

Inc. and trademark attorney Josh Gerben discuss the potential impact DOGE could have on the efficiency of the USPTO.

While it’s unclear how many USPTO employee’s have accepted the early retirement option or were laid off, employee’s have left the agency. Not only does this possibly affect the trademark registration timeline, but it could mean a loss of institutional knowledge within the agency.

“At the end of the day, the agency is run by people—and the people who are there are a lot better suited than anybody you’re going to bring in,” says Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney and the founder of the Gerben IP law firm, which has worked with the USPTO for the past 17 years.

Gerben goes on to note that the government agency could be more efficient – and it has been working on technology to help. While these efforts have helped, it could certainly be better. Even if someone was able to quickly create the technology, it would still need to be thoroughly tested before it was rolled out to the public. This process could take as long as two years.

“The worst-case scenario is that a bunch of really good people that have been trained, leave … and [DOGE] doesn’t make any technological improvements,” says Gerben. “It’s going to grind the system to a halt and it’s going to take a year-and-a-half to two years to get a trademark.”

Source: Morris, Chris. https://www.inc.com. “DOGE Could Substantially Increase Wait Times for Patents and Trademarks”. 16 March 2025.