The Final Rule for Prioritized Examination was published in the Federal Register today. The PTO is not wasting any time implementing its Three Track Examination procedure, as the Track I rules comment period closed March 7.
The new rules take effect for applications filed on or after May 4, 2011. Pending applications may be re-filed as continuing application after that date to take advantage of the new system. As with the proposed rules, the final rule limits Track I to applications that include no more than 4 independent and 30 total claims.
The final rule states that the PTO has an office-wide aggregate goal of 12 months from granting of special status to final disposition. As a reminder, a final disposition is (1) a notice of allowance, (2) a final rejection, (3) a notice of appeal, (4) filing of an RCE, (5) declaration of an interference, or (6) abandonment of the application. Filing a petition for extension of time also ends the special status of the application.
Applicants with applications under special status are expected to “cooperate” with the PTO by having a clear understanding of the state of the art, filing a clear specification with relatively few claims, filing replies that are completely responsive to office actions, and being willing to conduct examiner interviews.
The fee for requesting prioritized examination is $4,000 in addition to the normal filing fees. Thus, the total fee for a new application requesting prioritized examination is $5,520 for a large entity and $4,892 for a smal entity. The PTO is limiting the number of Track I applications to 10,000 for FY2011.
HT: Hal Wegner.
April 5, 2011 at 4:32 am |
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced today plans for the agency to begin accepting requests for prioritized examination of patent applications – allowing inventors and businesses to have their patents processed within 12 months. It currently takes nearly three years to process the average patent. The program, called Track One, launches May 4, 2011, and is part of a new Three-Track system, which will provide applicants with greater control over when their applications are examined and promote greater efficiency in the patent examination process.
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