USPTO Launches New Patent Search Tool

In a press release issued earlier this year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced the launch of a new Patent Public Search tool. The Office notes that the new patent search tool, which is based on the Patents End-to-End (PE2E) search tool that USPTO Examiners use to identify prior art, will provide for convenient and robust full-text searching of U.S. patents and published patent applications.

The tool combines the capabilities of the Public-Examiner's Automated Search Tool (PubEAST), Public-Web-based Examiner's Search Tool (PubWEST), Patent Full-Text and Image Database (PatFT), and Patent Application Full-Text and Image Database (AppFT), all of which are scheduled to be retired in September. Previously, stakeholders could only access PubEAST and PubWEST at a USPTO facility, but with the launch of the new tool, anyone with internet access can perform such searches.

The Office notes that the following benefits are provided by the new search tool:

• Layouts: Multiple layouts with multiple tools to provide more data at once
• Highlighting: Multi-color highlighting that can be viewed across multiple gadgets and turned on or off
• Tagging: Ability to tag documents into multiple groups that can be renamed and color coordinated
• Notes: Ability to add notes to an image with options to include tags, relevant claims, and highlights
• Quality: Robust full-text searching of U.S. patents and published applications
• Familiar usability: Same searching syntax as PubEAST and PubWEST

With the launch of the new search tool, the Office has also launched a Patent Public Search webpage, which includes FAQs, training resources, and other information to help users work with the new search tool. Questions concerning the Patent Public Search tool can be directed to the Public Search Facility at psf@uspto.gov.

USPTO Further Extends COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program

In a notice published last month in the Federal Register (87 Fed. Reg. 17073), the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced a third extension of the modified COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. Requests to participate in the pilot program that are compliant with the program's requirements and are filed on or before June 30, 2022, will be accepted in the pilot program.

The Office implemented the COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program in May 2020. The pilot program allows applicants that qualify for small or micro entity status to request prioritized examination without paying the fees typically associated with such prioritized examination. To qualify for the pilot program, the claims of an application must cover a product or process related to COVID–19, and such product or process must be subject to an applicable FDA approval for COVID–19 use. Such approvals may include, for example, an Investigational New Drug (IND) application, an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE), a New Drug Application (NDA), a Biologics License Application (BLA), a Premarket Approval (PMA), or an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). In September 2021, the Office extended the program to December 31, 2021, and modified the program to remove the limit on the number of patent applications that could be accepted under the pilot program. In December 2021, the Office extended the pilot program again, this time to Match 31, 2022.

In its latest notice on the pilot program, the Office indicates that as of February 7, 2022, 225 patents had issued from applications granted prioritized status under the program. The Office also notes that the average total pendency of applications in the program, from filing date to issue date, was 298 days, and that the shortest pendency from filing date to issue date was 75 days.

USPTO Publishes Notice of Termination of Global PPH with Rospatent

Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it would no longer grant requests to participate in the Global Patent Prosecution Highway (GPPH) at the USPTO when such requests are based on work performed by Rospatent as an Office of Earlier Examination under the GPPH, with the change taking effect on March 11 (see "USPTO Terminates PPH with Rospatent and Terminates Engagement with NCIP"). The USPTO also noted that in pending cases in which it had already granted special status under the GPPH to applications based on work performed by Rospatent, the Office would be removing that status and returning those applications to the regular processing and examination queue. Earlier today, the change in the GPPH with Rospatent that the Office announced last month was published in the Federal Register (87 Fed. Reg. 19486).