Early Results of USPTO’s New Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program

The United States Patent and Trademark Office launched the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program last year to incentivize the filing of patent applications that cover technologies directed to climate change mitigation. With information on the program available to the public, it is time to review the progress of the pilot program.

Under the pilot program, the filing of applications directed to certain climate change mitigation technologies are encouraged by expediting the prosecution of qualifying applications without incurring additional petition fees. Qualifying applications are granted “special status” and advanced out of turn to receive an expedited first action on the merits.

Based on publicly available data, applications granted special status under this pilot program have received a first action on the merits within six months of filing. In contrast to an average pendency of 16 months prior to a first action on the merits, the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program can allow the prosecution of qualifying applications to be significantly expedited.

Advantageously, unlike other previous accelerated examination initiatives, the pilot program does not require the applicant to perform and submit a prefiling search. Therefore, for qualifying applications, filing an application under the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program may be a compelling and cost-saving alternative to prioritized examination that allows for expedited consideration without the burden of conducting a prefiling search.

The pilot program incentivizes the filing of applications that cover technologies directed to climate change mitigation, with a focus on technologies directed to greenhouse gas reduction. This may include transportation (e.g., electric vehicles), energy generation (e.g., wind turbines), energy transmission or distribution (e.g., batteries), waste management (e.g., recycling) the capture, sequestration, or disposal of greenhouse gases, or a wide variety of other “green” technologies.

As of February 21, 2023, 243 applications have been filed with a petition under the pilot program and 154 applications have been granted special status, currently resulting in a 63% grant rate. The USPTO will continue to accept petitions under the pilot program until the earlier of (1) 1,000 applications being granted special status or (2) June 5, 2023.