USPTO Deferred-Fee Provisional Application Pilot Program for COVID-19 Related Inventions

In an effort to lend further support to the expedited development of COVID-19-related vaccines and therapeutics (see Covid-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has implemented a deferred-fee provisional patent application pilot program whereby applicants filing under 35 U.S.C. 111(b) can elect to defer the $300.00 USD provisional filing fee ($150 for small entities; $75 for micro-entities) until the filing of a corresponding non-provisional application.

In order to be eligible for the deferred-fee pilot program:

  1. the subject matter disclosed in the provisional application must be directed to a product or process related to COVID-19;
  2. the product or process must have obtained, be pending, or will seek prior to marketing, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for COVID-19 use;
  3. the applicant must submit a technical disclosure, a provisional application coversheet, and a completed PTO/SB/452 form (“Certification and Request for COVID-19 Provisional patent Application Program”); and
  4. the applicant must agree that the technical subject matter disclosed in the provisional application will be published on the USPTO website.

While insulated from being cited against an inventor’s own later-filed corresponding non-provisional application in the United States, the USPTO warns that special consideration should be taken by applicants seeking international patent protection since “[m]any foreign jurisdictions treat an inventor’s public disclosure made within one year of filing as prior art against the inventor’s own application unless that earlier disclosure is the subject of a proper priority claim in that jurisdiction.”

The USPTO will accept certifications and requests to participate in the deferred-fee program until September 17, 2021, after which the program may be extended beyond that date and may be expanded to other technological areas beyond COVID-19 requiring rapid innovation.