Pilot Program Will Accelerate Applications on Green Technologies

The Patent and Trademark Office issued a notice on December 8, 2009 that it is initiating a pilot program permitting petitions to accelerate applications pertaining to green technologies.  74 Fed. Reg. 64666. New patent applications are normally taken up for examination in the order of their United States filing date. The USPTO is implementing a pilot program to permit applications pertaining to “green technologies” (i.e., applications pertaining to environmental quality, energy conservation, development of renewable energy resources, or greenhouse gas emission reduction) to be advanced out of turn without meeting all of the current requirements of the accelerated examination program set forth in item VIII of MPEP Sec. 708.02(a) (e.g., examination support document). The USPTO will accept the first 3,000 petitions to make special under the Green Technology Pilot Program in previously filed new applications, provided that the petitions meet all of the requirements set forth in this notice. Upon receipt of more than 3,000 petitions, the USPTO may reevaluate the workload and resources needed to extend the pilot program.