Comments on: U.S.P.TO. Launches Green Tech Pilot Program to Speed Green Patenting http://greenpatentblog.com/2009/12/12/uspto-launches-green-tech-pilot-program-to-speed-green-patenting/ covering intellectual property issues in clean technology Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:19:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Eric http://greenpatentblog.com/2009/12/12/uspto-launches-green-tech-pilot-program-to-speed-green-patenting/#comment-35080 Eric Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:23:25 +0000 http://greenpatentblog.com/2009/12/12/uspto-launches-green-tech-pilot-program-to-speed-green-patenting/#comment-35080 <p>David,</p> <p>You're right about the Patent Prosecution Highway, but the U.S. applicant still has to wait until the other country's patent office decides to allow some claims, which could take a while.</p> <p>I think the U.S. expedited examination procedure still exists for, inter alia, inventions having environmental benefits, but the Examination Support Document makes it onerous and expensive.</p> So I think the new pilot program is an improvement on both of those established procedures. <p>Eric</p> David,

You’re right about the Patent Prosecution Highway, but the U.S. applicant still has to wait until the other country’s patent office decides to allow some claims, which could take a while.

I think the U.S. expedited examination procedure still exists for, inter alia, inventions having environmental benefits, but the Examination Support Document makes it onerous and expensive.

So I think the new pilot program is an improvement on both of those established procedures.

Eric

]]> By: David Heckadon http://greenpatentblog.com/2009/12/12/uspto-launches-green-tech-pilot-program-to-speed-green-patenting/#comment-34878 David Heckadon Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:39:10 +0000 http://greenpatentblog.com/2009/12/12/uspto-launches-green-tech-pilot-program-to-speed-green-patenting/#comment-34878 There are already provisions (called the "Patent Prosecution Highway") for getting patent examination accelerated in one country if allowable subject matter has been found in another country. Therefore, I believe it is already possible to get accelerated examination in the US based on speedy foreign examination. Unfortunately, the system is relatively new, and the bugs haven't been fully worked out yet. I've seen mixed results. Aslo, people forget that the US used to have a system for accelerated examination of green patents (I think they were defined as inventions offering "environmental benefit"). The system was abandoned several years ago. It never really was successful. You had to file a "Petition to Make Special" showing why the case should be accelerated. Often, the Patent Office took so long to decide the Petition that it equaled the normal waiting time of the application sitting in the queue for regular examination! The Patent Office got rid of this "selective" accelerated examination system, and decided that any patent application can now be accelerated - but you have to pay a fee, and submit a search report characterizing the references. Many people are still resistant to doing this. However, some people have found this system to be very successful (especially for technologies that take several years to be examined). Here's a paper I did 2 years ago on "Accelerated Examination" http://www.gordonrees.com/publications/viewPublication.cfm?contentID=780 There are already provisions (called the “Patent Prosecution Highway”) for getting patent examination accelerated in one country if allowable subject matter has been found in another country. Therefore, I believe it is already possible to get accelerated examination in the US based on speedy foreign examination. Unfortunately, the system is relatively new, and the bugs haven’t been fully worked out yet. I’ve seen mixed results.

Aslo, people forget that the US used to have a system for accelerated examination of green patents (I think they were defined as inventions offering “environmental benefit”). The system was abandoned several years ago. It never really was successful. You had to file a “Petition to Make Special” showing why the case should be accelerated. Often, the Patent Office took so long to decide the Petition that it equaled the normal waiting time of the application sitting in the queue for regular examination! The Patent Office got rid of this “selective” accelerated examination system, and decided that any patent application can now be accelerated - but you have to pay a fee, and submit a search report characterizing the references. Many people are still resistant to doing this. However, some people have found this system to be very successful (especially for technologies that take several years to be examined). Here’s a paper I did 2 years ago on “Accelerated Examination” http://www.gordonrees.com/publications/viewPublication.cfm?contentID=780

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