Petition to Make Special

An application may be made special upon filing a petition including any evidence showing that at least one named inventor is 65 years of age, or more, such as the inventor’s statement or a statement from a registered practitioner that evidences that the inventor is 65 years of age or older.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH)

speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating intellectual property offices. Under PPH, participating patent offices have agreed that when an applicant receives a final ruling from a first patent office that at least one claim is allowed, the applicant may request fast track examination of corresponding claim(s) in a corresponding patent application that is pending in a second patent office. PPH leverages fast-track examination procedures already in place among participating patent offices to allow applicants to reach final disposition of a patent application more quickly and efficiently than standard examination processing.

Track One Prioritized Examination

Using the track one route, you will be able to get a final disposition within about twelve months from the initial filing. Track One for prioritized examination applies to utility and plant patent applications. Track One gives your application special status with fewer requirements than the current accelerated examination program and without having to perform a pre-examination search. The only con is the fee which is not cheap. Prioritized examination must be requested at the time of filing an original utility or plant application. A single request for prioritized examination may be granted for a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) in a plant or utility application.

Accelerated Examination (AE)

The AE is similar to Track One in many ways. As with Track One, the goal for AE is final disposition within 12 months, and the basic formal requirements for putting an application on file is similar, in that it must be complete and ready for examination (except AE allows only 3 independent claims and 20 total claims). Unlike Track One, however, AE provides only two months for responding to an Office Action other than a notice of allowance or a final Office Action, as compared to three months for non-expedited cases and Track One. As with Track One, extensions of time taken will remove the application from the AE program.