The USPTO has suspended expedited design applications to combat fraud.
The PTO had suspended expedited examinations of design applications back on April 17, 2025. Now it has decided to eliminate them altogether, as part of an effort “to combat fraud”. The announcement said “requests for expedited examination of design applications have surged 560% in recent years, caused in large part by fraudulent applications.”
The source of the massive increase in applications is China
Apparently, the largest source of these fraudulent applications is China, but why?
The Chinese government has been offering subsidies for foreign trademark and patent filings. This effectively incentivizes filling applications, even when there is no intent to use the mark or pursue protection.
This is, as the PTO acknowledges by its actions, a burden on the system and potentially harms legitimate applicants.
Chinese government subsidies for filing applications
https://www.gerbenlaw.com/blog/chinese-business-subsidies-linked-to-fraudulent-trademark-filings/The Chinese government’s subsidies of foreign IP filings has been a concern for the US for over a decade.
Chinese applicants may be earning approximately $800 USD in subsidies, for a filing fee of $225-275, meaning it is profitable to send crowds of filings to the US.
The question of motives is a concern. Is this an attempt to undermine the US trademark registration system? Or is it motivating by China transitioning from being primarily a manufacturer to an innovator?
Investing heavily in foreign IP may be an attempt to increase international competitiveness.
Why China is incentivizing application filings is unknown
But there has been a huge influx of illegitimate filings with doctored specimens- for example the same picture of a shoe with 10 different marks on it. As a counterpoint, the Chinese central government sets the targets. But it is up to the local governments to achieve those targets. This could create incentives for the local officials to prize hitting number-of-filing quotas, while overlooking quality. Thus one could argue that the Chinese central government isn’t trying to undermine the US per se. It may simply be a by-product of the race to establish themselves more solidly in the international market.
Whatever the motives, the increase IS a burden and the USPTO is taking steps to remedy the situation.
We have some other articles concerning fraud at the USPTO, and their ongoing efforts to combat it.
52k more fraudulently filed trademark applications and registrations cleared