Posts Tagged: "covid-19 prioritized exaination pilot program"

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently announced the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, under which the USPTO will advance certain patent applications related to COVID-19 “out of turn,” resulting in prioritized examination for qualifying applications. Under this program, the USPTO reportedly aims to provide final disposition of qualifying applications within one year of the filing date, meaning that a final office action or notice of allowance will be mailed (or a notice of appeal will be filed) during this shortened one year timeframe. For comparison, it typically takes the USPTO roughly 16 months from the filing of an application to mail a first office action.