Haynes Boone Partner Jeff Morton spoke with Managing IP on how uncertainty related to tariffs and changes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office are impacting the IP strategies of clients. Morton has been monitoring how uncertainty related to tariffs is impacting clients’ IP strategies.
“That’s something from my day-to-day life that I can see continue to fluctuate, though hopefully will settle down during the second half of 2025,” he says.
He adds that clients are deciding whether to bifurcate their operations, with some in the U.S. and others in other jurisdictions.
“I think it’s probably increasing filings outside the U.S. that otherwise might not have been as prevalent,” he notes. “Not everyone is rushing back to operate entirely in the U.S. There’s a level of uncertainty.”
With respect to changes to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Morton notes, for example, that patents have been granted more quickly after applicants pay the issue fee.
He says, however, that this change affects continuation practice. Continuations have to be filed by the day that the patent application is issued.
“Practitioners need to have plans in place sooner rather than later as to how they’ll prosecute patent families. There’s not as much time in between the later stages of patent prosecution,” he says. “It’s an adjustment from where we’ve been for so many years.”
Read the full article from Managing IP here.
