Getting a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can be a long process. As soon as you file an application, you receive correspondence from the U.S. PTO that an attorney will be assigned to your application in 3 months. Once an attorney is assigned to the application even the most basic conflict-free application can take another 3 - 6 months. In a digital age, where brands are so valuable this archaic process is slowing down innovation and investment.
Hopefully, automation and artificial intelligence can speed up the process. For simple trademark applications where there aren't any conflicting registered marks, an AI should be able to review and approve those applications quickly with little to no human intervention. Where humans are necessary is in the complicated situations where someone is applying for a mark that comes close to infringing on a registered mark. The AI should be able to identify those "complicated" applications and understandably a longer process of human review would be necessary. As someone who practices regularly before the U.S. PTO, I hope for my client's sake that this type of automation is being developed.