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Common types of petitions handled by the Office of Petitions

Different areas within Patents (such as OPET, Technology Centers, Office of Patent Application Processing, Office of Data Management, and International Patent Legal Administration) process petitions depending on the action being requested and the associated laws, rules, and USPTO policies. A comprehensive list of petitions delegated to the OPET is set forth in MPEP 1002.02(b). The below list includes information on some of the most common petition types submitted to the OPET.

Expedited examination petitions

1. Make special - age or health (37 CFR 1.102(c)(1))

2. Prioritized Examination (Track One) (37 CFR 1.102(e))

3. Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) Pilot program

4. Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program

5. First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program

Domestic benefit and foreign priority related

6. Unintentionally delayed foreign priority claims (37 CFR 1.55(e))

7. Unintentionally delayed domestic benefit claims (37 CFR 1.78(c) & (e))

8. Restoration of benefit of a provisional application or priority to a foreign application (37 CFR 1.78(b) & 1.55(c))

Place an abandoned application back into pending status

9. Withdrawal of abandonment based on failure to receive an office action (37 CFR 1.181)

10. Withdrawal of abandonment based on evidence that a reply was timely mailed or filed (37 CFR 1.181)

11. Revival based on unintentional delay (37 CFR 1.137(a))

12. Revival based on failure to notify the office of a foreign filing after submission of a non-publication request (37 CFR 1.137(f))

Stop or delay an allowed application from issuing

13. Withdrawal from issue before payment of the issue fee (37 CFR 1.313(a))

14. Withdrawal from issue after payment of the issue fee (37 CFR 1.313(c)(1) & (c)(2))

15. Express abandonment after payment of the issue fee (37 CFR 1.313(c)(3))

16. Deferment of issuance of patents (37 CFR 1.314)

Reconsideration of patent term adjustment

17. Petition requesting reconsideration of the patent term adjustment before issuance of the patent (37 CFR 1.705(c))

18. Petition requesting reconsideration of the patent term adjustment after issuance of the patent (37 CFR 1.705b))

Petitions relating to maintenance fee payments

19. Acceptance of maintenance fee payments based on a refusal to accept and record maintenance fee payment filed prior to the expiration of the patent (37 CFR 1.377(a))

20. Acceptance of delayed payment of a maintenance fee after expiration of the patent based on unintentional delay (37 CFR 1.378(b))

Miscellaneous petitions

21. Attorney or agent withdrawals (37 CFR 1.36)

22. Waiver or suspension of rules (37 CFR 1.183)

23. Matters not specifically provided for (37 CFR 1.182)

24. General supervisory review by the Director of USPTO of a decision by a director of the technology center (37 CFR 1.181)

25. Filing dates of patent applications (37 CFR 1.53 and 1.57)

26. Converting patent applications (37 CFR 1.53)

27. Petitions for correction of patent application publications (37 CFR 1.221(b))

28. Expungement of papers (37 CFR 1.59)

29. Petition for retroactive foreign filing license (37 CFR 5.25)

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