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Lisa: Look, there’s a cybercafe opening here in Springfield. Will you take me, Dad, please? I’ll show you how to order pizza over the internet.
Homer: The internet? Is that thing still around?
—The Simpsons
Ryan Schneider, Troutman Sanders
While Homer Simpson may not need the internet to run the Springfield nuclear power plant, technology and the internet are alive and well and provide intellectual property attorneys with an increasingly complex and uncertain work environment. In fiscal year 1997, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) received 251,856 trademark applications, renewals and maintenance affidavits. In FY 2017, the total applications, renewals and maintenance affidavits had increased to 765,802. The patent side of the USPTO experienced similar growth as the number of patent applications (utility, design, plant and reissue) expanded from 237,045 in 1997 to 647,348 in 2017. By comparison, the GDP for the US from 1997 to 2016 little more than doubled.
