Patent and Trademark Office January 18, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

To speed up patent examination and give applicants more comprehensive prior art by combining the search expertise of United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), and Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) examiners before issuing a first Office action, the USPTO, in partnership with the JPO and the KIPO, is extending the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP) program for an additional two years, through October 31, 2024. Requests to participate in the Expanded CSP program that were filed between October 31, 2022, and January 18, 2023, will be considered. In addition, the partner intellectual property (IP) offices have collaborated on a new petition option for participation in the Expanded 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 either the USPTO or one of the partner IP offices rather than separate petitions in each office. Enhancements include a more user-friendly layout, the 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.