Facts and figures on adoption rates of electronic filing: Difference between patents and trademarks is huge

The FY2006 budget request for the United States Patent and Trademark Office includes some amazing statistics on adoption rates for electronic filing:

For 2004 (estimated figures), a full 75% of trademark applications were filed electronically — three of every four. On the patent side, only 4% were filed through the Electronic FIling System (EFS).

I’ve always known the adoption rates of electronic filing were vastly different, but I had no appreciation for the spread until I saw those numbers in black and white. Will the patent system ever reach such high adoption rates? As I’ve said before, I don’t think it will even come close as long as the current Electronic FIling System (EFS) is in place. Under the current system, most practitioners have zero incentive to file patent applications electronically. I seriously doubt the system will even see the 10% projected for next year without a serious overhaul.