USPTO Patent Application Initiatives - After Close of Prosecution

After Close of Prosecution

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	After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 (AFCP 2.0)	Pre-Appeal Program	General Interview Practice	Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS)	Ombudsman Program
Description	AFCP 2.0 authorizes additional time for examiners to search and/or consider responses after final rejection.	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 filing an RCE with an IDS filed 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	05/2013	07/2005		05/2012	04/2010
Currently Active (accepting applications)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Petition / Request	Request	Request	Request	Submitted Via EFS-Web as e-petition	Request
Surcharge / Fee	No	Notice of Appeal Fee	No	Yes - IDS fee $180	No
Claim Number Limit(s)	No	No	N/A	No	N/A
Shortened Prosecution Time	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Special Status	N/A	No	N/A	N/A	N/A
Examination Support Document	No	No	N/A	No	N/A
Shortened / Non- extendable Response Times	No	No	N/A	No	N/A
Interview Required	No	No	Yes	No	N/A
Continuation Applications & RCEs Eligible for Program	N/A	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes
Duration or Application Limit	Expiration Extended to 9/30/19	Unlimited, no expiration	No	Expiration Extended to 9/30/18	Unlimited, no expiration
Status of Program	Pilot	Pilot	Permanent	Pilot	Permanent