[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 169 (Friday, September 3, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Page 49522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19114]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No.: PTO-P-2021-0037]
Modification of COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or
Office) is modifying the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program
to accept applications until December 31, 2021. Requests that are
compliant with the pilot program's requirements and are filed on or
before December 31, 2021, will be accepted, even if more than 500
requests have already been approved. The USPTO will evaluate whether to
terminate or further extend the program during this extension.
DATES: The COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program is modified
as of September 3, 2021 and is extended to run until December 31, 2021.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert A. Clarke, Editor of the Manual
of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP) (telephone at 571-272-7735; email
at [email protected]).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 14, 2020, the USPTO published a
notice for the implementation of the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination
Pilot Program. See COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 85
FR 28932 (May 14, 2020) (COVID-19 Track One Notice). The COVID-19 Track
One Notice indicated that an applicant may request prioritized
examination without payment of the prioritized examination fee and
associated processing fee if: (1) The application's claim(s) covered a
product or process related to COVID-19, (2) the product or process was
subject to an applicable Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval
for COVID-19 use, and (3) the applicant met other requirements given in
the COVID-19 Track One Notice. As of August 2, 2021, 120 patents have
issued from applications granted prioritized status under the pilot
program. The average total pendency, including time consumed by
continued examination, from filing to issue for those applications was
249 days. The shortest pendency from filing date to issue date for
those applications was 75 days.
The COVID-19 Track One Notice indicated that the pilot program
would expire after the USPTO accepted 500 applications into the
program. As of August 16, 2021, the USPTO had accepted 476 applications
into the program, and there were 52 requests to participate that had
not yet been acted upon. To ensure that applicants are not refused
access to the pilot program due to delays in the USPTO's consideration
of the requests to participate, the USPTO is modifying the program to
consider on the merits any request filed on or before December 31,
2021, even if an applicant's request to participate is not acted upon
until after the USPTO has accepted 500 requests. The USPTO will
evaluate whether to terminate or further extend the program during this
extension. If the USPTO determines that a further extension of the
pilot program is appropriate, the USPTO will publish a subsequent
notice further extending the program.
Unless the pilot program is further extended by a subsequent notice
to the public, following the expiration of this extension, the pilot
program will be terminated, and applicants may instead seek to use the
Prioritized Examination (Track One) Program. Applications accorded
prioritized examination under the pilot program will not lose that
status merely because the application is pending after the date the
pilot program is terminated. In other words, applications accepted into
the pilot program will continue to be examined under prioritized
examination status until that status is terminated for one or more
reasons, as described in the COVID-19 Track One Notice.
The Prioritized Examination (Track One) Program permits an
applicant to have an application advanced out of turn (accorded special
status) for examination under 37 CFR 1.102(e) if the applicant timely
files a request for prioritized (Track One) examination accompanied by
the appropriate fees and meets the other conditions of 37 CFR 1.102(e).
See MPEP 708.02(b)(2). The current fee schedule is available at:
www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule.
The Track One Program does not have the restrictions of the COVID-
19 Track One Program on the types of inventions for which special
status may be sought, as the Track One Program does not require a
connection to any particular technology. Moreover, delays associated
with the determination of whether an application presents a claim that
covers a product or process related to COVID-19 and whether the product
or process was subject to an applicable FDA approval for COVID-19 use
will be avoided under the Track One Program.
Andrew Hirshfeld,
Commissioner for Patents, Performing the Functions and Duties of the
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2021-19114 Filed 9-2-21; 8:45 am]
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