In this week's "Locke on the Law," Partner and Chair of Dorf Nelson & Zauderer LLP's Intellectual Property Department, Scott Locke, comments on the implications for the USPTO of the Trump Administration's change in the remote work policy.

"The majority of patent and trademark examiners at the USPTO have telework agreements in place. Consequently, the recent push by the Trump administration to compel federal workers to choose between returning to the office fulltime or losing their jobs should raise deep concerns about how the already unacceptable backlog of patent and trademark applications will only get worse. Because patents and trademarks are among the most valuable assets of American companies of all sizes, we are watching for innovators and entrepreneurs to push for exemptions for both current and future examiners from this policy."

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