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USPTO achieves significant progress in reducing patent application Notice of Allowance mailing pendency
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has made substantial progress in reducing mailing pendency for patent application Notices of Allowance (NOAs). In recent months, NOA processing pressures increased as application volumes rose and staffing resources were stretched by competing agency priorities. The Legal Instrument Examiners (LIEs) in Patents’ Office of Patent Examination Support Services (OPESS) support the mailing of NOAs, as well as also processing approximately 2 million incoming patent application documents each year while continuing to support examiner growth and key initiatives across the Office.
To address the increase in NOA mailing pendency, Patents established a 10-member team in early 2026 to take a fresh look at the NOA workflow. Through careful process review, the team identified steps that required manual attention and steps that could be automated. A time study followed, and several processing steps were streamlined, improving the average processing time from 25 minutes to 6 minutes per application.
The results have been outstanding. Before the improvements, the team was processing approximately 6,000–7,000 NOAs per week and the NOA mailing pendency remained a persistent challenge; after the workflow changes, weekly output increased to approximately 15,000 NOAs, virtually eliminating any backlog of NOAs waiting to be mailed.
This achievement reflects the USPTO’s commitment to innovation, efficiency, and service. By working together to improve a process, a significant operational win was delivered by America’s Invention Agency that will benefit both applicants and examiners, and ensure that born strong patents are issued timely and expeditiously.
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