There are many ways to speed up the examination process when applying for invention patents in the United States, such as AE, Track One, and PPH.
Accelerated Examination (AE)
The AE route is applicable to all conventional invention patent applications, including continuation applications, part continuation applications, divisional applications and bypass applications. However, the number of independent claims in the application documents shall not exceed 3, the total number of claims shall not exceed 20, and it cannot contain multiple dependent claims; and the claims must meet the requirements of unity. The AE route is not applicable to international applications entering the national phase (except for RCE submissions), design applications, reissue applications, plant patent applications, RCE procedures and reexamination procedures, etc.
- Timing: The applicant should file a request for accelerated examination at the same time as filing a patent application.
- Official fee: $140
- AE applicants are required to conduct their own search on the application content and provide relevant supporting documents (Accelerated Examination Support Document, AESD)
- The first examination opinion will be received within 3 months after the AE accelerated examination, and the final examination decision is expected to be received within 12 months from the application date.
- AE acceleration does not allow for active modification, and the response time for OA is only 2 months and cannot be extended
Prioritized Examination Track One
Formal applications with no more than 4 independent claims, no more than 30 claims in total, and no multiple dependent claims, and patent applications filed after September 26, 2011 are eligible to file a priority examination request (Track One). Continuation applications, partial continuation applications, and divisional applications can all be filed, but reissue applications cannot.
- An applicant can only file a proper RCE when the application process has been concluded, such as when the USPTO has issued a Final Action, a Notice of Allowance, or other means of concluding the application process. An application for Priority Examination must be filed before the USPTO responds to the RCE. An RCE application must contain no more than 4 independent claims, 30 total claims, and no multiple dependent claims.
- If a request for extension is made, the priority examination process will be terminated
- It is strongly recommended to use PTO/AIA/424 form to file a request for prioritized examination, which must include the description, claims and drawings, as well as the inventor's oath or declaration, and ADS. At the same time, the application fee, search fee, examination fee, prioritized examination fee and processing fee must be paid. If the conditions are not met, the request for prioritized examination will be rejected.
- Priority review can only be requested once. If RCE is requested again, priority review will no longer be allowed.
- Large entity: $4,000; Small entity: $2,000; Micro entity: $1,000
- After the priority review is approved, the USPTO will close the case within 1 year.
PPH Request
Under the PPH program, participating patent offices agree that when an applicant receives an opinion from the first patent office that at least one claim is allowable or patentable, the applicant can request an expedited examination of the corresponding claims in the corresponding patent application pending at the second patent office. The PPH utilizes the existing expedited examination procedures of each participating patent office to enable applicants to complete the final processing of patent applications faster and more efficiently than the standard examination procedures. The PPH program does not charge any fees.
The countries that have signed PPH bilateral agreements with the USPTO include:
- Bahrain Patent Office, Czech Patent Office, French Patent Office, Mexican Patent Office, Malaysian Patent Office, Moroccan Patent Office, Nicaraguan Patent Office, Philippine Patent Office, Romanian Patent Office, Saudi Arabian Patent Office, Taiwan Patent Office
- Average time for issuing the first review opinion: 3 months
- As of September 30, 2024, a total of 97,397 patent applications have filed PPH requests, of which 87,961 patent applications have been granted patents.
GPPH Request
The Global PPH Pilot Program and the IP5 PPH Pilot Program will be conducted simultaneously and are essentially identical, differing only in terms of their respective participating offices. The USPTO has chosen to participate in both the Global PPH Pilot Program and the IP5 PPH Pilot Program and can therefore file a PPH request or a GPPH request with the USPTO based on work products from any office participating in either pilot program. In addition, since the requirements of the Global PPH Pilot Program and the IP5 PPH Pilot Program are the same, applicants to the USPTO do not need to specify which pilot program they are using.
Under these new streamlined pilot programs, any early positive results (whether PCT or national work product) at any of the IP offices listed below could potentially form the basis for obtaining PPH status at the USPTO.
- The countries participating in GPPH are:
Expedited Examination
- Only for designs, applicants are required to complete pre-search
Petition to Make Special
- Make Special Based on Age/Health: The applicant is 65 years old or older, or the applicant is in poor health and may not be able to adhere to the normal patent examination cycle.
- Application time: Request must be made before the first OA is issued
- No official fees
First Action Interview Pilot Program
- Applicable to invention patent applications in all technical fields
- The request should be made at least one day before the first office action notice appears in the PAIR query system
- The number of independent claims shall not exceed 3, the total number of claims shall not exceed 20, and it shall not contain multiple dependent claims.
- The applicant must agree to the meeting
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