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Patent Law

: Patently Obvious

How Long Do I Wait for a First Office Action

By Dennis Crouch, Esq.

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Based on the USPTO's most recent numbers on examination, I created an updated table of the average delay until a first office action is mailed from the PTO. These numbers reflect an average for each technology center as it operates today. The 3.25 year delay in Electronic Commerce (TC 3620) means that the applications receiving first office actions during the past three months had been pending for 3.25 years ago on average ? taking us back to applications filed around new-years 2007. One-year-ago, the delay for TC 3620 was 3.9 years from filing to FAOM. The numbers do not necessarily reflect how long it would take for an application filed today to make it through. (Although it is perhaps one of the better estimates that we have on hand.).

Tech Center	Area of Technology	Average Years Delay Before First Action on the Merits
2900	Designs	1.13
1660	Plants	1.40
1640	Immunology receptor ligands	1.95
3670	Wells earth boring	1.96
3610	Surface transportation	2.12
1620	Organic chemistry	2.17
3640	Aeronautics	2.19
1650	Fermentation microbiology	2.21
1630	Molecular biology	2.25
3630	Static structures	2.25
3720	Manufacturing devices	2.25
3760	Body treatment	2.41
3650	Material handling and	2.43
2180	Computer architecture	2.49
3660	Computerized vehicle	2.49
2160	Database and file management	2.55
2110	Computer architecture	2.56
3710	Amusement and	2.60
3740	Thermal and combustion	2.65
3750	Fluid handling and	2.68
1610	Pharmaceutical formulations	2.72
2120	Miscellaneous computer	2.76
3730	Bio and Organic	2.79
3780	Bio and Organic	2.79
3770	Respirators Therapeutic	2.83
2610	Digital Communications General	3.06
2620	Television and TV Recording	3.12
3620	Electronic Commerce	3.25
2190	Interprocess communications	3.98