USPTO to Stop Accepting Petitions for Accelerated Examination Program on July 10, 2025

By Matthew Dickstein

Starting July 10, 2025, the United States Patent and Trademark Office will no longer accept petitions for the Accelerated Examination program for utility patent applications. The Accelerated Examination program will remain open for design patents.

The Accelerated Examination program, established in 2006, allowed applicants to request expedited examination by filing a petition to make special under this program. The goal was to complete the examination within 12 months of the application’s filing date [1].

To qualify, applicants must submit a fee ($150 unless the application qualifies for an exemption) [2] along with examination support documents and having less than 20 claims. The supporting documents include a prior art search and explanation of patentability over prior art, in addition to others [3].  Over time, fewer applicants used this program due to the burden of preparing these extensive supporting materials. According to the USPTO, fewer than 100 applicants have used the Accelerated Examination on utility patents annually since 2014 [4].

One key reason for discontinuing the Accelerated Examination program is the growing preference for the simpler and more popular Prioritized Examination program, known as Track One. Introduced under the America Invents Act, Track One allows applicants to expedite examination by paying a fee without the need to submit a prior art search or supporting documents [5], making it more accessible and less burdensome than Accelerated Examination. Track One request fees are currently $4,515 for large entities, with a discount structure for smaller entities [6]. Track One will have the annual limit raised from 15,000 to 20,000 applications in 2025 [7]. An applicant will still be allowed to make an application special based on the inventor's age or health without a fee; however, the fee exemptions for enhancing the quality of the environment, conservation of energy, and counter terrorism will no longer be available [8].

With the discontinuation of Accelerated Examination, the USPTO hopes to devote resources to older applications, bringing down pendency [9]. Despite the discontinuation, applicants will still be able to use the Track One program.  

References

[1] 71 F.R. § 36323 (June 26, 2006).

[2] 37 CFR § 1.17(h)

[3] 71 F.R. § 36323 (June 26, 2006).

[4] 90 F.R. § 24324 (June 10, 2025).

[5] Id.

[6] USPTO fee schedule, USPTO (Nov. 16, 2023), https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule.

[7] 90 F.R. § 24324 (June 10, 2025).

[8] Id.

[9] USPTO discontinuing Accelerated Examination program for utility applications, USPTO (June 9, 2025), https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/news-updates/uspto-discontinuing-accelerated-examination-program-utility-applications