The Trump administration’s push for “efficiency” is undercutting key programs and tools that maintain balanced intellectual property frameworks that protect startups against low-quality patents and meritless, but expensive and time consuming, litigation.
The Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) sweeping review of federal agencies has turned to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). While the current administration frames this effort as necessary to eliminate waste (the PTO is funded through application fees, not taxpayer dollars, making its operations irrelevant to the goal of cutting government spending), DOGE’s actions risk undermining a core component of the intellectual property system: patent quality. High-quality patents are critical for startups to protect their inventions, defend against abusive litigation, and attract investors, but low quality patents can be easily weaponized against startups. If DOGE’s disruption to PTO operations continues, it could cause lasting damage to patent quality as well as startup innovation and competition.
Low-quality patents result when patent applications fail to meet statutory requirements and contain vague, overbroad terms that are difficult to understand. Maintaining patent quality requires thorough reviews by highly-trained patent examiners to confirm that applications meet the standards for utility, novelty, and non-obviousness while also ensuring claims have a well-defined scope of protection. To diligently assess whether an invention is an original innovation, examiners must conduct comprehensive prior art searches using expansive databases that catalog existing inventions. Patent quality depends not only on reliable access to the right tools but also on skilled examiners and an agency focused on quality over quantity.
DOGE’s push for efficiency risks triggering a domino effect that undermines the PTO’s mission of upholding strong patents. Reports from patent examiners indicate that the agency cut access to non-patent literature databases, such as ProQuest. Rescinding access to necessary search tools reduces examiners’ ability to identify relevant prior art. This increases the likelihood of low-quality patents being granted, both to startups—which would be a waste of the significant time and money they invest into securing IP protections—but also to patent trolls, who use the threat of expensive and time consuming litigation to extract settlements from startups and other small businesses.
Meanwhile, despite a current backlog of more than 1.2 million pending patent applications and an average 30-month wait for patent approval, DOGE is slashing the PTO workforce. The federal hiring freeze has led to cancelled job postings and rescinded offers for hundreds of incoming patent examiners. After the April 17 deadline for PTO employees to accept early retirement or buyout offers, additional staff layoffs are still expected. To add further strain to operations, although most patent examiners were shielded from return-to-office mandates through collective bargaining agreements, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) judges had to conduct all virtual hearings from the PTO office starting March 14.
These mandates designed to prompt resignations and staffing cuts come at the cost of the time and expertise needed to properly examine patent applications. The departure of experienced examiners and PTAB judges will deepen the already heavy backlog and leave staff stretched thin. With mounting pressure to prioritize speed and efficiency, remaining examiners will have less time and resources to thoroughly review patent applications. This priority shift risks a rise in superficial patent reviews and increases the likelihood of issuing low-quality or invalid patents.
The U.S. patent system is a driver of innovation, but it now faces serious threats under DOGE’s review. As DOGE cuts the PTO workforce and resources for supposed maximum efficiency, the long-term impacts to patent quality will be significant and felt across the entire innovation ecosystem.
Disclaimer: This post provides general information related to the law. It does not, and is not intended to, provide legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney directly.
Engine is a non-profit technology policy, research, and advocacy organization that bridges the gap between policymakers and startups. Engine works with government and a community of thousands of high-technology, growth-oriented startups across the nation to support the development of technology entrepreneurship through economic research, policy analysis, and advocacy on local and national issues.
