The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will get an additional $129 million in
federal funds to help reduce an application backlog that the Obama administration says is hindering innovation and job creation.

President Barack Obama signed a law last week that lets the agency retain fees collected in excess of its current $1.89 billion budget. Without the law, fees beyond the budget would be sent to the U.S. Treasury.

The administration has linked improved protection for intellectual property with helping economic growth. The patent office is struggling to reduce a backlog of more than 700,000 applications as of Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. On average, it takes 34.6 months to complete the process and issue a patent, and the office is seeking to cut that to 20 months by fiscal 2014.