The federal government is “shut down.” But that shut down does not apply equally across all aspects of the federal government. For those of us who work with intellectual property, that is on full display.
For example, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), remains “open and fully operational” because it has operating reserves from the prior year’s fee collections. It will keep rolling until those reserves are depleted. Last time, in 2019, it stayed open all 35 days of that shutdown. This time, however, the USPTO is laying off about 1% of its 14,000 employee workforce “to focus on mission-critical operations” and “is not a reflection of anyone’s service, performance or conduct.” Those impacted employees will be put on administrative leave and will no longer have access to USPTO systems.
The Copyright Office, however, is closed, as is the Library of Congress. The Copyright Office is not updating the information on its website, responding to inquiries, or processing applications or other transactions. Registration applications and recordation submissions will be accepted for the purpose of securing a “date of receipt,” but they will not be processed until the government reopens.
So, yes, your trademark and patent applications are still moving through the system (for now). Your copyright application is on pause. No, we don’t know when it is going to end, either.