[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 245 (Thursday, December 22, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78661-78662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27795]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Patent and Trademark Office

[Docket No.: PTO-P-2021-0037]


Fifth Extension of the Modified COVID-19 Prioritized Examination 
Pilot Program for Patent Applications

AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: To continue to support the acceleration of innovations in the 
fight against COVID-19 during the public health emergency, the United 
States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is extending the 
modified COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, which provides 
prioritized examination of certain patent applications. Requests that 
are compliant with the pilot program's requirements and are filed on or 
before February 15, 2023, will be accepted. The USPTO will evaluate 
whether to further extend the program during this extension period.

DATES: The COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program is extended 
as of December 22, 2022, to run until February 15, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Raul Tamayo, Senior Legal Advisor, 
Office of Patent Legal Administration (571-272-77285, 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2020, the USPTO published a notice on 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 pilot program was 
implemented to support the acceleration of innovations in the fight 
against COVID-19. 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 
patent 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

[[Page 78662]]

met other requirements noted in the COVID-19 Track One Notice.
    Since the COVID-19 Track One Notice, the USPTO has modified the 
pilot program by removing the limit on the number of patent 
applications that could receive prioritized examination and extending 
the pilot program four times through notices published in the Federal 
Register. The most recent notice (87 FR 38714, June 29, 2022) extended 
the program until December 31, 2022.
    As of December 6, 2022, 353 patents had issued from applications 
granted prioritized status under the pilot program. The average total 
pendency, from filing date or later submission of a request for 
continued examination to issue date, for those applications was 348 
days. The shortest pendency from filing date to issue date for those 
applications was 75 days.
    The USPTO is further extending the pilot program by setting the 
expiration date as February 15, 2023. The Office will continue to 
monitor the state of the current public health emergency and evaluate 
whether to further extend the program. If the USPTO determines that an 
additional extension of the pilot program is appropriate, the Agency 
will publish a subsequent notice to the public.
    Unless the pilot program is further extended by a subsequent 
notice, following the expiration of this extension, the pilot program 
will be terminated in favor of the Office dedicating its resources to 
its other prioritized examination programs. Patent applicants 
interested in expediting the prosecution of their patent application 
may instead seek to use the Prioritized Examination (Track One) 
Program. Patent applications accorded prioritized examination under the 
pilot program will not lose that status merely because the application 
is still pending after the date the pilot program is terminated but 
will instead retain prioritized examination status until that status is 
terminated for one or more reasons, as described in the COVID-19 Track 
One Notice.
    The Track One Program permits an applicant to have a patent 
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 
Sec.  708.02(b)(2) of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (9th 
ed., rev. 10.2019, June 2020). The current USPTO fee schedule is 
available at www.uspto.gov/Fees.
    The Track One Program does not have the restrictions of the COVID-
19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program regarding 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, under the Track One Program, an applicant can avoid delays 
associated with the determination of whether a patent application 
presents a claim that covers a product or process related to COVID-19 
and whether the product or process is subject to an applicable FDA 
approval for COVID-19 use.

Katherine K. Vidal,
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of 
the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2022-27795 Filed 12-21-22; 8:45 am]
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