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Strong progress continues on design patent examination
 As of May 18, 2026, design patent examiners continued to drive down the inventory of unexamined design patent applications by over 28% year-to-year to 62,166 applications awaiting first action (compared to over 86,453 applications in January 2025).
Strides in design first action pendency have also occurred. This fiscal year (FY) alone, first action pendency of design applications has dropped from 16.9 months to 14 months—the lowest it has been since FY 2018.
Design examiners continue to make significant progress in reducing both the inventory of unexamined design patent applications and design patent application pendency, while embracing the use of DesignVision in each of their searches, and learning and incorporating into their examination the recent "Supplemental Guidance for Examination of Design Patent Applications Related to Computer-Generated Interfaces and Icons."
The team’s sustained progress in keeping design patent applications moving forward underscores America’s Invention Agency’s commitment to serving its applicants and stakeholders, and to ensuring that design patents are born both strong and timely.
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