The USPTO has just increased the annual limit on the number of applications that can be submitted via its Track One prioritized examination program from 10,000 to 12,000 – so what is it? and why might you want to use it?
What is Track One?
The US Patent and Trade Mark Office, USPTO, Prioritized Patent Examination Program, called ‘Track One’, was launched in 2011 as part of the America Invents Act changes to US patent law.
Track One aims to deliver a final decision on a patent application within 12 months. This can be attractive if you need to get your US patent granted quickly, and there are less requirements involved with Track One than there are with the USPTO’s Accelerated Examination Program.
Entry onto the Track One program requires the filing of a request and payment of a $4000 Track One prioritized examination fee (although this is discounted to $2000 for small entities or $1000 for ‘micro’ entities) and a processing fee.
Why should you use Track One?
While there is an additional cost, the reduction in time is significant.
The average time for a US patent application to complete examination is over 27 months. With Track One it goes down to 7.8 months.
Track One applications also start the examination process much earlier. A first Examination Report is usually issued by the USPTO within 3.4 months of filing a Track One request, compared to over 18 months in the case of a standard application.
This means that if speeding up your application is your primary objective, Track One offers an attractive alternative.
However, speed is not the only benefit.
A 2015 analysis for IP Watchdog found that allowance rates were 19% higher for US patent applications on Track One than for standard applications. And in their analysis the following year IP Watchdog found that not only were allowance rates higher, but also that Track One requests enjoyed shorter examination timelines and fewer examination reports (although applicants who entered the Track One program after filing a Request for Continued Examination, RCE, appeared to receive fewer of these benefits).
When can you use Track One?
A US patent application is eligible for Track One if:
- It has no more than four independent claims
- It has no more than thirty total claims
- It has no multiple dependent claims
Both first filings and continuing applications (what we would call ‘divisional applications’) are eligible for Track One.
The point of Track One is to seriously speed up examination, so an application will lose its Track One status if you:
- Request an extension of time
- File an amendment that contains more than four independent claims/more than thirty total claims/a multiple dependent claim
- File a Request for Continued Examination, RCE
- Receive a final Office Action from the USPTO
- Abandon the application
What to consider before using Track One
Track One applications enjoy higher allowance rates and shorter examination timelines than standard US patent applications. However, if you are considering using Track One, you will need to balance the potential benefits of speeding up the potential grant (or refusal) of your application against your commercial objectives and, more pointedly, the cost of a Track One request.
Better still, why not have that conversation with a Two IP patent attorney? We have years of experience advising clients on US patent protection and long standing relationships with expert US patent attorneys.