Extended Voyage: Accelerate Examination Plan Gets An Extension

As anticipated, effective February 1, 2010, the director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), David Kappos, officially extended the duration of the "Patent Application Backlog Reduction Stimulus Plan"¹ (the "Plan"). Click here (http://tinyurl.com/yz7bufn ) to read the USPTO's Notice. The Plan, which was initially set to expire on February 28, 2010, was extended until June 30, 2010. Under the Plan, a small entity applicant² may petition to make an application special and have it advanced to the front of the examination queue if the applicant agrees to expressly abandon a co-pending application owned by the same applicant or having a common inventor. Thus, a patent application may be examined sooner by the USPTO, and consequently a patent may issue sooner under the Plan than under normal procedures. This extension of time may further increase the chances that Director Kappos' goals of acceleration and backlog reduction will be achieved by providing