Introduction I typically estimate that the patent examination requires 2 or 3 years from filing to allowance of a patent. However the duration of patent prosecution is often longer for applications pertaining to business methods, e-commerce and document processing. There are procedures to expedite or accelerate patent examination. The USPTO provides two options intended to expedite…
prioritized examination
PRIORITIZED EXAMINATION
Introduction The USPTO is sensitive to the time delays experienced in the prosecution of patent applications. Prosecution of a utility application can exceed two to three years. The Patent Office has tried various methods to accelerate the process. For example, certain medical applications, environmental applications, and elderly inventors can receive priority. The Patent Office now…