Initiatives

 

Patents Application Initiative Timeline

A centralized listing of major Patent Application Initiatives provides applicants with access to information on several patent initiatives designed to advance and support the examination process. Compare the various patent application initiatives that are available prior to examination, during examination, or after close of prosecution to evaluate and contrast the benefits of participating.
 

 

Semiconductor Technology Pilot Program

Qualifying applications are advanced out of turn for examination until the first Office Action. Program is open until the earlier of December 2, 2024 or until 1,000 petitions are granted.

Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program

Qualifying applications involving climate change mitigation technologies may be submitted until June 7, 2027, or until 4000 petitions are granted. This program is inspired by the former Green Technology Pilot Program.

Deferred-fee provisional patent application pilot program and collaboration database to encourage inventions related to COVID-19

A pilot program that permits applicants to defer payment of the provisional application filing fee until the filing of a corresponding nonprovisional application in exchange for making technical subject matter disclosed in their provisional applications available to the public via a searchable collaboration database. The pilot accepted requests from September 17, 2020 through September 17, 2021. The searchable collection remains available to the public for review.

Patents Customer Partnership Meetings

Lists of future and past Partnership Meetings, implemented as a collaborative effort to give the IP community and the USPTO a forum to discuss items of mutual interest.

Accelerated Examination

Learn more about the established procedures under which the examination of a patent application may be accelerated.

After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0

The After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) is part of the USPTO's on-going efforts towards compact prosecution and increased collaboration between examiners and stakeholders.

Complex Work Unit Pilot Program

CWU Pilot Program helps users simplify online access to, and availability of, USPTO information and data for purposes of improved examination of applications, as well as publication of pre-grant publications and patent grants

Full First Action Interview Pilot Program

Under the Full First Action Interview Pilot Program, an applicant is entitled to a first action interview, upon request, prior to the first Office action on the merits. The examiner will conduct a prior art search and provide applicant with a condensed pre-interview communication citing relevant

Glossary Initiative

Find out more about White House Executive Action No. 2, high-tech patent issues, and the the Glossary Pilot Program.

Patent Quality

Providing high-quality, efficient examination of patent application is paramount to our mission at USPTO.

Patents for Humanity

USPTO awards competition recognizing innovators who use game-changing technology to meet global humanitarian challenges.

Patent Law Treaty

Effective December 18, 2013 The provisions in the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 focus on harmonizing and streamlining many of the formal procedures for filing and processing a patent application.

Prior Art Search

One initiative of the Software Partnership is the investigation and sharing of search strategies, and the improvement of tools and resources to evolve better techniques to identify prior art.