It looks like the hiring freeze and return to work order will severely disrupt operation of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
>>>Donald Trump’s many executive actions on day one of his presidency included
implementing a hiring freeze across the federal government. . . . The USPTO began its telework program in 1997. As of 2023,
nearly 13,000 of the USPTO’s approximately 14,000 employees worked remotely.<<<
https://ipwatchdog.com/2025/01/23/trump-hiring-freeze-leaves-uspto-backlog-attack-plan-limbo/id=185341/
In addition to the hiring freeze, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) apparently just ordered all employees to "return to the office."
As far as I know, the USPTO does not have offices for the vast majority of the 13,000 remote employees. They can't return to an office that doesn't exist.
USPTO operations are fully funded by the fees it collects for patent and trademark applications. Shutting it down would not save any taxpayer dollars.
I fail to see any logic in this, especially given that Trump was pro-IP rights during his first term. Biden was much more anti-IP (full disclosure: I generally agreed with Trump's IP positions more than Biden's).
With apologies to John Lennon:
There's Nazis in the bathroom just below the stairs
Strange days indeed
There's UFOs over New York, and I aint too surprised
Nobody told me there'd be days like these
Strange days indeed
Most peculiar mama, roll!