by Dennis Crouch
The federal government shutdown that began at 12:01 AM on October 1, 2025, is creating a patchwork of disruptions across the nation’s intellectual property infrastructure, with each major system affected differently based on their funding structures. The Copyright Office is apparently completely shuttered, its staff unable to access email or respond to inquiries.
As I discussed yesterday, the USPTO remains operational by drawing on fee-based reserve funds built up over recent years. But, the new news is an announced 1% workforce reduction (~1500 people) today along with closure of its Denver Office as part of “mission-prioritization.” Interestingly, the agency cited to a Biden-era report to Congress that “physical office space is less necessary” primarily because of the successful telework policies. The current administration has taken extensive steps to eliminate those policies.