The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been announced several programs during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak to assist those who have COVID-19 related inventions or who have been affected by COVID-19 related issues.
One such programs is a pilot program to provide prioritized examination of certain patent applications, without the need to pay the corresponding prioritized examination fees. To qualify, the claim(s) 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. The applicant must be a small or micro entity. The applicant must certify that at least one of the pending claims covers a product or process related to COVID-19 and that such product or process is subject to an applicable FDA approval for COVID-19 use. Ordinarily, the small entity PE fee is USD$2,000.
Another program is that the USPTO will add extensions to the time allowed to file certain patent and trademark-related documents, as well as to pay certain required fees, for cases that have due dates between March and the end of May. The inability to file a response or pay a fee must be related to the COVID-19 situation and a declaration to that affect will need to be filed with the delayed response or fee.
The latest notices of USPTO can be found on the link.
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NAZALI TAX & LEGAL |