USPTO Introduces New Initiative to Expedite Patent Applications of First-Time Filers

In March 2023, the USPTO and its Council for Inclusive Innovation announced the First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program.  This new program benefits those individuals or small businesses that are first-time filers for patent rights and qualify as “micro entities.”  Through the program, these micro entities receive an expedited first Office action, which the USPTO hopes will lower time-based barriers for inventors that acted as barriers to commercialization or may have otherwise precluded inventors’ use of the patent system. 

After submitting a patent application, inventors must typically wait for an examiner to review the application and return the examiner’s written notice of findings, which is referred to as an Office action.  As of February 2023, applicants waited an average of 16.1 months between the filing of their application and the receipt of their first Office action.  By providing expedited initial feedback, the new pilot program seeks to increase accessibility to the patent system and incentivize more innovation from communities all across America, including underserved geographic and economic communities in the patent space who are new to the patent application process.  As Kathi Vidal, the Director of the USPTO, noted, “By accelerating the examination process, it is our hope that expedited feedback from the agency’s initial review of the application will allow them to make key business decisions at an earlier stage as we work together to bring more innovation to impact.”

To be eligible to participate in the new pilot program, applicants must certify that:  (1) the inventor or each joint inventor has not been named as the sole inventor or a joint inventor on any other nonprovisional application; (2) the applicant and the inventor or each joint inventor qualify for micro entity status under the gross income basis requirement; and (3) the inventor or each joint inventor named on the application is reasonably trained on the basics of the USPTO’s patent application process.  In addition to these certifications, the applicant must also separately establish micro entity status by filing USPTO Form SB/15A.  In addition, the program is only open to non-continuing original utility nonprovisional applications that do not claim the benefit of the filing date of any prior-filed nonprovisional U.S. applications or international applications designating the United States under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c) or 386(c).  To make the required certifications and to petition for participation in the program, applicants must use USPTO Form SB/464.

The first-time filer initiative will accept petitions for expedited examination until March 11, 2024, or until 1,000 patent applications have been accepted into the program, whichever occurs first.  According to the USPTO, as of March 28, 2023, no applications have been granted special status under this program.  This new initiative joins other expedited examination programs instituted by the USPTO, including programs supporting COVID, cancer immunotherapy, and climate change mitigation.  The new pilot program requires participants to be reasonably trained in the patent application process to most effectively engage with the USPTO and maximize the benefit of expedited examination.  The pilot program website provides a collection of free training resources for applicants, but first-time filers should also consider retaining a patent attorney who can guide them and their patent applications through the patent system. 

To learn more about this program, please refer to the complete Federal Register Notice or visit the USPTO’s website for the Council for Inclusive Innovation webpage, where you can find additional information about the program and the efforts of the Council for Inclusive Innovation to expand American innovation by tapping into the strength of our nation’s diversity and increasing the opportunities for all Americans to participate in innovation.