The USPTO, like other federal agencies, has a limited budget despite the growth in the number of patent applications awaiting first action and the number of applications still pending. Visit the USPTO website and find the Patents Data Visualization Center (Patent Dashboard) that visually displays patent statistics, including the time to process applications and the cur- rent backlog. What effect does a backlog in the time for processing patent applications have on innovation and the rights of inventors? Some individuals have proposed that the budget of the USPTO should be increased and others have called for increased filing fees to help offset the cost of patent examiners. What do you think is the best solution for dealing with the lag time in processing patent applications? Explain.