Patent and Trademark Office March 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in partnership with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), have collaborated on a new petition option for participation in the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP) program. The new petition option, which has several enhancements compared to the current petition form and process, permits an applicant to file a combined petition in one of the partner intellectual property (IP) offices rather than separate petitions in both partner IP offices. Enhancements include a more user-friendly layout, addition of multilingual text, and a foundation for data collection that both satisfies the petition requirements and streamlines the process for partaking in the Expanded CSP program.

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 June 30, 2022, will be accepted. The USPTO will evaluate whether to terminate or further extend the program during this extension period.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued an order granting a one-year interim extension of the term of U.S. Patent No. 6,953,476.