USPTO Patent Application Initiatives - After Close of Prosecution

After close of prosecution

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	Pre-Appeal Program	General Interview Practice	Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS)	Ombudsman Program
Description	An avenue to request that a panel of examiners formally review the legal and factual basis of the rejections in their application prior to the filing of an appeal brief.	The USPTO encourages examiners to take a proactive approach to examination by reaching out and engaging our stakeholders in an effort to resolve issues and shorten prosecution.	QPIDS eliminates the requirement for entering a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) filed with an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) after payment of the issue fee in order for the IDS to be considered by the examiner.	The Patents Ombudsman Program enhances the USPTO's ability to assist applicants or their representatives with issues that arise during patent application prosecution.
Program start date	07/2005		05/2012	04/2010
Currently active (accepting applications)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Petition / request	Request	Request	Submitted Via Patent Center as e-petition	Request
Surcharge / fee	Notice of Appeal Fee	No	IDS timing fee (may be refunded) IDS size fee (if applicable) Petition for withdrawal fee RCE fee (may be refunded)	No
Claim number limit(s)	No	N/A	No	N/A
Shortened prosecution time	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Special status	No	N/A	N/A	N/A
Examination support document	No	N/A	No	N/A
Shortened / Non-extendable response times	No	N/A	No	N/A
Interview required	No	Yes	No	N/A
Continuation applications & RCEs eligible for program	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes
Duration or application limit	Unlimited, no expiration	No	No	Unlimited, no expiration
Status of program	Pilot	Permanent	Permanent	Permanent