By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a sixth extension of the
COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Programme. The programme supports the acceleration
of innovations in the fight against COVID-19. Requests to participate that are compliant with
the programme’s requirements, and are filed on or before May 11, will be accepted.
As of January 9, 364 patents were issued from applications granted prioritized status under this
programme. The average total pendency for those applications was 356 days. The shortest
pendency from filing date to issue date for those applications was 75 days.
The full text of the notice is available on the Patent Related Notices webpage. Entities are
advised to see the USPTO’s COVID-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Programme webpage for
more information about the programme.
