Why are so many patents pending?

This article describes the work of the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and how a patent aplication is dealt with. Currently, it takes approximately 35 days for a patent application to get out of what's known as the pre-examination process and into the dreaded backlog, now up to more than 400000 applications and counting. The big question facing the PTO today is how, given the system in place, the staff can shorten the 24 months that it takes most applications to go from the mailroom to certification. PTO director James E. Rogan has made controversial suggestions. He wants, for example, to in effect add more examiners by outsourcing part of the examination's search process to outside contractors, and to increase application fees by more than 50 percent. Earlier reform attempts have had false starts, most notably the electronic filing system that was discarded in favor of one used by the European Patent Office. Even when, as the PTO plans, all patent applications are electronic, they will still have to be processed through the eyes and brains of the patent examiners.