In 2019, the USPTO released a report surveying the participation of female inventor-patentees in the U.S. patent system. The main discovery: women are still underrepresented in the patent system, but their participation rate is slowly improving.

Due to the success of Track One, the USPTO has created the Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program to carry the benefits of prioritized examination through to appeals.

The new program aims to review eligible appeals and issue a decision within six months from the date a petition is granted. The average pendency for a standard appeal is currently about 14 months — down from a high of 30 months in 2015. Given its low petition fee and promise to cut disposition time by more than half, the Program is likely to be popular among patent applicants — despite one key limitation.

What is the Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program?
The Program is essentially an extension of the Track One prioritized examination program, which allows applicants to obtain a final disposition on a patent application within 12 months of the application’s filing date. The Track One program is both popular and successful, but prioritized examination under that program does not carry through to appeals from a final rejection — meaning that applicants could lose the benefit of prioritized examination should they decide to appeal. Due to the success of Track One, the USPTO created the new program to carry the benefits of prioritized examination through to appeals. 

The eligibility requirements for the Program are fairly straightforward. To qualify for fast-track status, the following four conditions must be met: 

Technology Center 1600 is the home for life science patent applications at the USPTO. This includes applications related to organic compounds, organic chemistry, molecular biology, immunology, fermentation, and plants.

Patent prosecution can be frustratingly complicated, and the USPTO has created special programs to reign in the usual chaos. Knowing these programs, their purpose, and their success rate can hugely benefit your patent practice.

Technology Center 2400 handles data processing and telecommunications technologies, including multiplex and VoIP, cable and television, recording and compression, cryptography and security, and computer networks.

Technology Center 2800 handles a wide range of electrical technologies, including semiconductors, circuits, optics, and printing.

Much has been made about the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is clear that the pandemic and its associated lockdowns have resulted in a sharp economic contraction, it is unclear what effect—if any—it will have on the USPTO in terms of patent filing and other patent prosecution-related activity.

With so much going on in the world during the first half of 2020 — a global pandemic, an economic recession, and widespread protest movements — developments in the intellectual property sphere have largely flown under the radar. But that does not mean 2020 has been bereft of patent news.

On this year’s World IP Day, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry called for a surge in green tech patenting to fight climate change. His charge follows a report that patenting for green energy technologies has slowed.

The USPTO has announced that, in accordance with the CARES Act, it is further extending the deadlines to file certain patent-related documents or fees to June 1, 2020.