It takes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office an average of 18 months to review an application, notes Martin Miller of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur in a recent post. “Throw in two or more office actions, and the average pendency of a patent application is more than three years from the filing date to either issuance or abandonment.”
But Miller says it doesn’t have to be this way, and points to a few programs that can speed up the process:
- Track One Prioritized Examination: Introduced in 2011, this process allows parties to have a significantly reduced application period for a fee of $4,140 (or $2,070 for a small entity). The average wait time for Track One applications is seven months.
- Accelerated Examination: This is “less desirable” than prioritized examination, says Miller, though it costs significantly less at $140. The problem with this solution is that the attendant requirements are burdensome, such as the necessary examination support documents and patentability search.
- Patent Prosecution Highway: This is available to applicants when they have claims in another participating country. “Requesting examination under the PPH program does not require an additional fee, but applicants must amend the claims in their U.S. application to correspond in scope to the claims allowed elsewhere,” Miller says, noting the program doesn’t accelerate the examinations as fast as the others.
