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USPTO Postpones Launch of Prioritized Examination Track

On April 22, 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that, due to significant cuts in its current year's budget, it would be initiating measures to reduce spending.

As part of this process, the program offering expedited patent examination (scheduled to go into effect on May 4, 2011) was postponed. For a detailed description of this program, please see our alert of April 8, 2011. 

Additional measures announced include:

• The postponement of opening of possible satellite office locations;
• A hiring freeze for new positions and backfills;
• A scale back of IT projects; and
• A reduction in funding for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) outsourcing.

At this time, it is unclear when the expedited patent examination program might be reinstated.