The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently began a pilot program in which a patent application for inventions relating to green technologies may be examined out of turn, and thus expedited. Green technology inventions include those inventions relating to environmental quality, energy conservation, development of renewable energy resources and/or greenhouse gas emission reduction.

Under the pilot program, if the application meets certain requirements, and is one of the first 3,000 petitions received, then the application may qualify to be expedited under this program and have the $130 petition fee waived. All petitions must be filed electronically on or before December 8, 2010, regardless of whether the 3,000 application threshold has been met.

International applications entering the U.S. national stage under 35 U.S.C. 371 on or after December 8, 2009 may also be eligible.

For more information or assistance with filing a patent application, please contact Kerri Hochgesang.