The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced a new pilot program designed to put the U.S. patent system to work in the fight against climate change.

The USPTO’s Patent Pro Bono Program, established in 2011 as a component of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, connects small business owners and inventors with pro bono representation to ease the burden of expensive and time-consuming patent prosecution.

The Full First Action Interview Pilot Program (FAIPP) was created due to concerns over interview effectiveness. Now discontinued, the program was one of many USPTO attempts to open communication between examiners and patent practitioners. Did the program succeed?

Innovation is key to a business's competitive advantage, and the USPTO created the Prioritized Patent Examination Program (known simply as Track One) to move ideas quickly. Patent applications in the program are expected to reach disposition within twelve months.

The USPTO recently announced a companion to the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, the COVID Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program. The goal is to expedite the processing of ex-parte appeals for applications related to COVID-19.

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: 

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.

In our analysis, we found that the First Action Interview Pilot Program (FAIPP) may not result in a faster prosecution, but it is effective in reaching an allowance with fewer office actions.