ACCELERATED EXAMINATION

The procedures and burdens of filing an application under the rules for accelerated examination have already been discussed in this blog.  To give a more complete picture, I filed an application (including support documents) under this procedure in early June and received notice of allowance of a patent in early August.

The duration of the prosecution was two months.

What can be learned from this?

·        A good prior art search is essential.

·        The work load in preparing the application documents is more than doubled.

·        The additional filing fee is a bargain for the benefit of obtaining a prompt determination of patentability.

·        Due to the increase work load in preparing the application and support documents, the legal fees incurred prior to filing result in the client paying all the prosecution costs up front.

·        The success rate of the application increases significantly due to the scrutiny of the search results and permissible modification of draft claims (within the scope of the claims searched).