David Kappos announces changes to USPTO in light of budgetary cuts
Straight from the director's den:
Effective immediately and until further notice:
Track One of the Three-Track program, which offers expedited patent examination and was scheduled to go into effect on May 4, 2011, is postponed
The opening of the planned Nationwide Workforce satellite office in Detroit, as well as consideration of other possible satellite office locations, is postponed;
Hiring—both for new positions and backfills—is frozen;
IT projects will be scaled back;
Funding for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) outsourcing will be substantially reduced;
Employee training will be reduced;
All overtime is suspended.
Overall, I can see significant consequences of these cuts at this time...
If I was China or India, I'd be smiling wide...
Also see:
An analysis of UPSTO's announcement regarding satellite offices and budgetary cuts by Patent Docs