As published in the Federal Register Notice of September 17, 2020, the USPTO is implementing a deferred-fee provisional patent application pilot program (“the program”) to promote the expedited exchange of information about inventions designed to combat COVID-19.
Under this program, the USPTO will permit applicants to defer payment of the provisional application filing fee until the filing of a corresponding nonprovisional application. In turn, applicants must agree that the technical subject matter disclosed in their provisional applications will be made available to the public via a searchable collaboration database maintained on the USPTO’s website.
To qualify for the program, the subject matter disclosed in the provisional application must concern a product or process related to COVID-19, and such product or process must be subject to an applicable Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for COVID-19 use, whether such approval has been obtained, is pending, or will be sought prior to marketing the subject matter for COVID-19. Please contact me at silvia@salvadorilaw.com with questions or comments.
Please contact me at silvia@salvadorilaw.com with questions or comments.
Silvia Salvadori, PhD