“Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) launched a beta version of the USPTO Data Visualization Center. This tool will give the public access to important data covering USPTO patent operations in a convenient dashboard format. The patents dashboard provides more refined pendency information than was previously available, as well as other critical indicators such as the number of applications in the backlog, production, staffing and more. This information will help the entire intellectual property (IP) community to better understand the USPTO’s processes, and enable applicants to make more informed decisions about their applications, especially as the USPTO develops more opportunities for applicants to control the timing at which their applications are examined. The new dashboard, which will be updated monthly, will also be used internally by the USPTO to analyze and improve its examination process and to track the effectiveness of its improvement efforts. The USPTO also plans to add relevant data to track progress in other areas such as Trademarks and worksharing with global IP offices.”