Notice2025-06701
Termination of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
April 18, 2025
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentPatent and Trademark Office
Abstract
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is terminating the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 74 (Friday, April 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 74 (Friday, April 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 16511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-06701]
[[Page 16511]]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO-P-2025-0010]
Termination of the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program
AGENCY: United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or
Office) is terminating the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program.
DATES: The Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program was suspended on
January 28, 2025. This notice serves as the formal termination of the
program. Petitions to participate in the program filed after 5 p.m. ET
on January 28, 2025, will not be granted.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristie A. Mahone, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Deputy Commissioner for
Patents, at 571-272-9016 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0e457c677d7a676b20436f6661606b4e7b7d7e7a6120696178"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="4c073e253f38252962012d242322290c393f3c3823622b233a">[email protected]</span></a>; or Parikha Mehta,
Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration, Deputy
Commissioner for Patents, at 571-272-3248 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b4e4d5c6dddfdcd59af9d1dcc0d5f4c1c7c4c0db9ad3dbc2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="7b2b1a091210131a55361e130f1a3b0e080b0f14551c140d">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 2022, the USPTO published a notice
implementing the Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program. See Climate
Change Mitigation Pilot Program, 87 FR 33750 (June 3, 2022) (2022
Notice). The 2022 Notice cited Executive Order 14008 of January 27,
2021, and indicated that an applicant may file a petition to request
that an application be advanced out of turn (accorded special status)
for the first Office action on the merits without satisfying all the
current requirements of the accelerated examination program. See id. at
33751-33752. In 2023, the USPTO expanded and extended the program to
expire at the earlier of June 7, 2027, or the date the USPTO accepted a
total of 4,000 grantable petitions. See Expansion and Extension of the
Climate Change Mitigation Pilot Program, 88 FR 35841 (June 1, 2023).
Executive Order 14148 of January 20, 2025, revoked Executive Order
14008, which had been cited as the basis for the pilot program. See
E.O. 14148: Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and
Actions, 90 FR 8237, 8238 (January 28, 2025). In accordance with
Executive Order 14148, the USPTO posted a notification suspending the
program on the program's web page on January 28, 2025. See <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patent-related-notices/climate-change-mitigation-pilot-program">https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patent-related-notices/climate-change-mitigation-pilot-program</a>.
Through this notice, the USPTO is now formally terminating the
program. Terminating the program allows the USPTO to dedicate USPTO
resources to reducing pendency across all applications regardless of
what technology the application is directed to, consistent with both 35
U.S.C. 154(b)(1) and statements made at the inception of the program
and in the notice of expansion and extension, where the USPTO reserved
the discretion to terminate the program depending on factors such as
workload and resources needed to administer the program. See 87 FR
33750 at 33751.
Any petition to participate in the program (``climate petition'')
filed after 5 p.m. ET on January 28, 2025, will not be granted. The
phrase ``any petition to participate in the program'' encompasses
initial and renewed climate petitions. Accordingly, a renewed climate
petition filed after 5 p.m. ET on January 28, 2025, will not be
granted, irrespective of the filing date and time of the initial
climate petition and whether the USPTO's dismissal of the initial
climate petition afforded applicant an opportunity to correct
deficiencies by filing a subsequent petition. Similarly, a request
under 37 CFR 1.181 for reconsideration of a decision dismissing a
climate petition that was filed after 5 p.m. ET on January 28, 2025,
will not be granted because any climate petition filed after the
suspension of the program is untimely.
The USPTO has removed petition form PTO/SB/457, titled
``CERTIFICATION AND PETITION TO MAKE SPECIAL UNDER THE CLIMATE CHANGE
MITIGATION PILOT PROGRAM,'' from the USPTO's website, and
decommissioned the corresponding document code--PET.CLIMATE--in Patent
Center. Applicants should not submit stored copies of form PTO/SB/457.
The USPTO will continue to process climate petitions filed by 5
p.m. ET on January 28, 2025, as set forth in Part II of the 2022
Notice, with the exception that applicants will not be afforded an
opportunity to correct any deficiencies. See 87 FR at 33752-33753.
Patent applications accorded special status because a grantable climate
petition was filed by 5 p.m., ET on January 28, 2025, will not lose
that status merely because the application is still pending after that
deadline. Any such application will retain special status until a first
Office action on the merits is issued, and the application will be
treated as described in Parts III-VII of the 2022 Notice. See id. at
33753.
Patent applicants interested in expediting the prosecution of their
patent application may instead request prioritized examination under 37
CFR 1.102(e). Under prioritized examination, a patent application is
advanced out of turn (accorded special status) for examination until a
final disposition is reached if the applicant timely files a request
for prioritized examination, accompanied by the appropriate fees, and
meets the other conditions of 37 CFR 1.102(e). Small and micro entity
discounts of 60% and 80% respectively, for the prioritized examination
fee are available for qualified applicants. Prioritized examination is
available at the time of filing an original utility or plant
application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a). This is referred to as the Track
One Program. In addition, a prioritized examination request may be
granted for a request for continued examination in a utility or plant
application, including an application that has entered the national
stage under 35 U.S.C. 371. See subsection 708.02(b)(I)(C) of the Manual
of Patent Examining Procedure (9th Edition, Rev. 01.2024, November
2024). The current USPTO fee schedule is available on the USPTO website
at <a href="http://www.uspto.gov/Fees">http://www.uspto.gov/Fees</a>.
Additional information on the conditions, eligibility requirements,
and guidelines for the Track One Program and prioritized examination
are available at <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/patents/initiatives/usptos-prioritized-patent-examination-program">https://www.uspto.gov/patents/initiatives/usptos-prioritized-patent-examination-program</a>.
Coke Morgan Stewart,
Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting
Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
[FR Doc. 2025-06701 Filed 4-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-16-P
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