Head of the class: Trademarks at full power with USPTO’s AI tool
America’s Branding Agency, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)'s Trademarks organization is driving increased throughput, higher quality, and register integrity with its move to full artificial intelligence (AI) tool adoption. On July 1, Trademarks achieved full adoption of the USPTO’s enterprise AI tool, Scout LLM, expanding access to all work units, including examining attorneys. It marks a significant accomplishment in the agency’s work to advance AI innovation in recent weeks, following closely on the USPTO's successful launch of the Classification Agentic Codification Tool (Class ACT), which has analyzed 250,000 applications to date.
Built on the USPTO's Unified Generative AI Platform, this large language model-based tool enables employees to work faster, more efficiently, and with greater effectiveness. Examining attorneys lead, tools support. Scout LLM summarizes information, analyzes data, researches topics, and drafts selectable content for general audiences. Designed with USPTO policies, guardrails, and workflows in mind, it supports the agency’s complex and fast-moving environment.
Trademarks launched the AI tool in phases to test, refine, and strengthen it before full deployment. Early users helped to improve features such as web search, prompt suggestions, and personalization. Trademarks then expanded training and access in stages, including to a small group of examining attorneys, before opening the tool to the full organization on July 1.
This milestone builds on the USPTO’s broader momentum in AI innovation. For example, this year the USPTO introduced Class ACT, which immediately allowed records in the pre-examination application queue to be searchable, reducing pendency from months to minutes. Class ACT assigns international classes, identifies design search codes, and generates pseudo marks. The tool also supports external users by generating a proposed mark description and color claim in Trademark Center. Similarly, in April, the agency introduced an AI-enabled image search tool that allows customers to upload an image and find similar marks.
The USPTO's internal AI tool is another example of how the agency is embracing emerging technology with purpose and energy. The full rollout underscores Trademarks’ commitment to using AI to drive efficiency, improve quality, and strengthen service to customers. It reflects continued progress in helping America’s Branding Agency to protect and advance intellectual property with modern, effective tools. By maximizing innovation, we are strengthening our work and leading the way into the future.
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