u.s. patent and trademark office to go electronic

Approximately 2% to 3% of all patent applications to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are filed electronically. The Office would like to increase those numbers drastically, and speed up the amount of time it takes to handle the patent and trademark processes. The solution they've arrived at is to develop an e-filing system using commerical off-the-shelf software, and to consult with patent offices in Europe and Japan which have already made the transition.