Do you need expedited examination of your
patent application? Prioritized
examination under track 1 of the USPTO’s three track
examination to begin May 4, 2011.
Do you have a competitor who is copying your inventive products? The
USPTO announced April 4, 2011 that Track 1 would begin May 4, 2011 and be
limited to a maximum of 10,000 applications through September 30, 2011. The maximum number of applications to
be accepted for the next year will be re-evaluated at that time. The USPTO also announced that
Examination under Track 3 is expected to begin September 30, 2011.
Currently, the expected fee for filing a patent application and requesting
prioritized examination is $5,520 for a large entity and $4,892 for a small
entity. This fee includes the basic
filing fee, the search fee, the examination fee, the prioritized examination
fee, the processing fee, and the publication fee.
If legislation is passed permitting the USPTO to reduce the fee for small
entities, the fee for filing a patent application and requesting prioritized
examination would be $6,320 for a large entity and $3,292 for a small entity.
The USPTO further clarified if the claims are amended during prosecution to
include more than 4 independent claims, or more than thirty claims, or multiply
dependent claims, the prioritized examination will be terminated.
For additional details regarding Track 1 please refer to
The USPTO’s Proposed 3
Track Examination of Patent Application.
Please contact Vidas, Arrett, and Steinkraus to discuss whether Track I
is a suitable course of action for your situation.
This update was prepared by Jennifer Buss. Jennifer is
an intellectual property lawyer at Vidas, Arrett & Steinkraus. For more
information about this update, please contact Jennifer at 952-563-3018 or via email.
Disclaimer
This update should not be considered legal
advice. Your receipt of this update does not establish an Attorney-Client
Relationship. We do, however, invite you to contact us if you would like us to
represent you.