2006 an exceptional year for patent, trademark agency

The Patent and Trademark Office had a record-breaking 2006 in goals related to quality, production, electronic filing and processing, the agency said.

Patent examiners completed 332,000 patent applications last year, which is the largest number ever completed. Trademark attorneys took final action on 378,111 trademark applications, a 36 percent increase over the previous year.

The PTO's new Web-based filing system increased the electronic submission of patent applications from 1.5 percent per month to 33 percent per month in 2006. More than 90 percent of all trademark applications were filed electronically last year, compared to 88 percent the previous year.

"Over the past four years, we have focused internally -- shining a bright light on our organization, raising the bar on our metrics and measures, and making system-wide improvements," said PTO Director Jon Dudas. "We are now seeing the results of those efforts."