The USPTO is expanding the availability of prioritized examination on September 24, 2021.
Here's the USPTO announcement:
"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued an interim rule further expanding the availability of prioritized examination (Track One) by increasing the limit on the number of Track One requests that may be accepted in a fiscal year from 12,000 to 15,000. The USPTO’s continued monitoring of the Track One program confirmed that the program could be further expanded to permit more applications to undergo prioritized examination while maintaining the ability to timely examine all prioritized applications. Track One allows applicants to receive a final disposition on their patent applications within approximately 12 months and grants applications special status with fewer requirements than the current accelerated examination program. More information on Track One is available on the Track One webpage of the USPTO website. The full text of the notice is available in the Federal Register and on the Patent Related Notices webpage." "From the Federal Register: "the number of applications accepted for prioritized examination will remain a small fraction of the patent examinations completed in a fiscal year (the Office examines approximately 640,000 applications and requests for continued examination in total per fiscal year). Accordingly, the Office is further expanding the availability of prioritized examination by increasing the limit on the number of prioritized examination requests that may be accepted in a fiscal year to 15,000, beginning in fiscal year 2021 (October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021) and continuing every fiscal year thereafter until further notice." So what's the USPTO currently charge applicants? I had to search the uspto.gov fee schedule for those details. The fee for the request for prioritized examination depends on applicant's size: $1,000 (micro entity), $2,000 (small entity), and $4,000 (large entity) plus a processing fee of respectively, $35 (micro entity), $70 (small entity), and $140 (large entity), plus you probably guessed your attorney's fees! Copyright © 2021 Robert Moll. All rights reserved. |
