What is...a way to speed up US patent prosecution?

Beginning on July 10, 2025, the USPTO will no longer accept petitions under the Accelerated Examination program for utility patent applications. Accelerated Examination was essentially a subset under the Petitions to Make Special.

Here are few remaining options available at the USPTO.

Petitions to make special (no fee)

With the changes announced in the Federal Register, Section 1.102(c) now only permits one to speed up patent prosecution via a petition to make special without a fee for petitions based on an inventor's or a joint inventor's age or health.

Petitions to Make Special for patent applications that 1) enhance the quality of the environment; 2) contribute to developing or conserving energy resources; or 3) contribute to countering terrorism will now need to be filed under Track One.

Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) (no fee)

PPH speeds up the examination process for corresponding applications filed in participating intellectual property offices. PPH must be filed prior to examination.

Under PPH, participating patent offices have agreed that when an applicant receives a ruling from a first patent office that at least one claim is allowable, 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.

Prioritized Examination / Track One (FEES)

Track One Applications allow you to speed up patent prosecution and reach a final disposition within about twelve months.

The catch is, you must pay fees of about $4700 for an undiscounted entity, which include a fee for a Request for Prioritized Examination and a Group III processing fee.

The timing to file for Track One it is either at the time of filing (along with the Basic Fee, Search Fee, Examination Fee, and Application Size Fee) or a single request can be made at the time of filing a RCE with payment of the applicable RCE fee.

As of April 2025,

• Over 9,500 requests have been submitted (out of the 15,000 permitted per year).

• Track One Pendency from Filing to Petition Grant is about 1.4 months.

• Track One First Office Action pendency is about 1.5 months.

• Track One Pendency from Petition Grant to Allowance is about 3.6 months.

• Track One Pendency from Petition Grant to Final Disposition is the average number of months to the date a Final Rejection, a Notice of Abandonment, or a Notice of Allowance is mailed by the USPTO is about 4.5 months.

  • The following link provides details on the current state of the Track One docket. Track One Data | Patents Dashboard | USPTO

    
    

If you have questions about any of these expedited routes, please reach out at www.kpiplaw.com to discuss which path may work best for you or your clients.