U.S. Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO)
Patent and trademark examination and intellectual property records.
Function
Sub-agency or bureau
Parent
Department of Commerce
FY2026 Budget Authority
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Official Data
USAspending.govEvidence & Review
Evidence Confidence
MediumVerification Status
AI-researched, unverifiedLast Reviewed
Jul 5, 2026
Retrieved On
Jul 5, 2026
Modernization Levers
Digital case/grant/service workflows, interoperable data, risk-based oversight, and shared services where the parent department can supply them without erasing mission expertise.
Administrative Burden Review
Identify who is forced to learn this bureau's rules: beneficiaries, applicants, regulated entities, grantees, state partners, researchers, or frontline staff. Reduce that burden through reusable evidence and clearer status information.
Duplication & Coordination Review
Coordinate with sibling bureaus before proposing consolidation. Some overlap is useful when it supplies checks, field presence, or resilience.
Risk & Guardrails
Do not cut mission-critical inspectors, adjudicators, scientists, field staff, or technical experts before the replacement process has proved it can preserve accuracy and rights.
Innovation Party Proposal
Improve USPTO through Examiner workflow modernization, AI-assisted prior-art search with human accountability, pendency metrics, and fee transparency.