As we mentioned in an earlier post, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched its Patent Dashboard showing vital statisitcs for the Patent Office, such as patent pendency (currently 25.9 months) and number of cases waiting a first action (currently 178,392).  Now the USPTO has launched a Trademark Dashboard, similar in concept, but covering trademarks.

Compared with patents, trademarks are processed much faster.  Trademark pendancy has reached historically low levels as measured by the time from filing to first action (within 2.5 and 3.5 months).  Total disposals are about 12.5 months.

Of course,  patent examination is far more difficult, and requires more resources, so it would  be inappropriate to compare the two.