Careers

Diversity

With 17 offices, from New York to Los Angeles and Seattle to Orlando, we live and work in communities all over the U.S., collaborating across locations, disciplines and even borders. Our experienced, highly ranked lawyers serve businesses wherever they are and wherever they want to go.

Offices

About Us

Pages

Professionals

Thought leadership: blogs, podcasts, videos, publications, events and news

Insights

Services

Pro Bono

Am Law 100 firm with practices in Business, Digital Assets and Data Management, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Litigation and Tax.

Home | BakerHostetler

Ohio Clock

Hallway with a grandfather clock displayed

Congress Faces Pre-election Budget Vote to Avoid Government Shutdown

Senate Passes Kids Online Safety Measure But House Passage Unclear

Current State of U.S. Economic Sanctions Imposed in Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine – August 29, 2024

Current State of U.S. Export Controls in Response to the Russian Federation’s Invasion of Ukraine – August 29, 2024

The USPTO recently launched the Fast-Track Appeal Pilot Program on July 2, 2020. The Pilot Program is slated to last one year, with a cap of 125 granted petitions per quarter – 500 total for the year. According to a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) webinar hosted on Feb. 18, 2021, the PTAB may use discretion to grant additional petitions per quarter. The Pilot Program allows appellants, i.e., applicant of the patent application, to file a petition to request fast-track review of ex parte appeals.
To qualify, the patent application must be an original utility, design, or plant non-provisional application. In addition, (i) a notice of appeal must have been filed in the application, and (ii) a PTAB docketing notice was issued. In other words, a deficiency of either (i) or (ii) would result in the petition being denied. Further, the appellant must file a petition under 37 CFR 41.3 seeking fast-track review accompanied by a $420 non-refundable fee (37 CFR 41.20(a)). Importantly, the Pilot Program is not available for applications treated as special under MPEP §708.01, i.e., because of age or health of the inventor.
The PTAB has set a goal to render a decision within six months from the grant of the fast-track review petition. This translates into slightly better than a 50% reduction in pendency over the average appeal time for cases not under fast-track review. Notably, the PTAB has exceed this goal and rendered decisions within about two months from the petition being granted over the first six months of the Pilot Program.
An important caveat of the Pilot Program is that an appellant’s request for oral argument could result in the hearing being scheduled in any available hearing room in any of the USPTO’s locations or by telephone. Appellants cannot reschedule hearings and still remain in the Pilot Program. Appellants may however request the hearing by video/telephone if the assigned location is inconvenient. But in light of COVID-19, all hearings for ex parte appeals are being conducted telephonically until further notice. Alternatively, appellants may waive the hearing.
Real-time data on the number of petitions received, available spots remaining, average time to decide a  petition and average time to a decision on appeal can be found <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/patents/ptab/fast-track-appeals-pilot-program?MURL=ptabfasttrack#time%20to%20decision">here</a>. As of the date of this post, the average time to decide a petition was 1.5 days.

core/freeform

IP Intelligence Report

Washington, D.C.

New York

Partner

Tayan B. Patel

Intellectual Property

Patent Litigation

Does Your Patent Application Qualify for the PTAB’s Fast-Track Appeal Pilot Program?

Related Services

Featured Insights