Takeaway: The USPTO launches First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program to encourage innovation and allow small businesses and individuals to get to market quicker.
This month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced the First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program from the Council for Inclusive Innovation (CI2). The new program benefits individuals or small businesses who are first-time filers and qualify as a “micro entity.” More specifically, the initiative expedites initial feedback, or first office actions, on these patent applications.
The primary goal of this program is to incentivize more innovation from communities all across the U.S. by allowing them to make key decisions at an earlier stages in business development and to get them to market more rapidly than average.
Per year, the USPTO receives approximately 40,000 patent applications from at least one first-time filing inventor, and this program will accept up to 1,000 petitions for expedited examination.
