USPTO Expands CARES Act Relief

The US Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) has expanded the kind of aid out there underneath the Coronavirus Help, Aid, and Financial Safety Act (CARES Act). Now, precedence claims may be made in sure non-provisional purposes filed greater than 12 months after the precedence software’s submitting date (greater than six months for a design software) however by July 31, 2020, so long as the delay in submitting “was because of the COVID-19 outbreak” as outlined within the USPTO’s April 28, 2020 discover.

Acquiring a Precedence Declare underneath the CARES Act

As reported in this text, Part 12004 of the CARES Act granted the USPTO momentary authority to increase statutory deadlines. As defined in this text, the USPTO beforehand exercised that authority by offering aid for sure patent prosecution and upkeep price deadlines. The USPTO’s June 11, 2020 discover pronounces a unique kind of aid out there now by means of July 31, 2020—the power to file a non-provisional software greater than 12 months after a precedence software’s submitting date (or greater than 6 months for a design software) and nonetheless make a precedence declare, so long as the unique precedence interval expired between March 27, 2020 and July 30, 2020 (inclusive), the delay in submitting “was because of the COVID-19 outbreak,” and different formal necessities are met.

This aid applies solely to U.S. purposes. For worldwide (PCT) purposes, the USPTO solely is ready to waive the petition price in 37 CFR § l.17(m) for a petition underneath 37 CFR § 1.452 to revive the suitable of precedence for a global software that was filed throughout the two-month interval set forth in three 7 CFR § 1.452 (inside two months of the expiration of the precedence interval).