IP Law Daily, PATENT NEWS: USPTO to implement Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program for patent applications, (Oct 24, 2025)

By Robert Margolis, J.D.

Announcement sets forth eligibility requirements for pilot program, which will begin accepting petitions on October 27, 2025.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has announced that it is implementing a Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program (“Pilot Program”), so it can evaluate how having a limited number of claims under examination impacts pendency and examination quality. To be eligible for the Pilot Program, a pending utility patent application must have no more than one independent claim and no more than ten total claims, and meet other requirements. Applicants must file a petition to make special, on a form provided by the USPTO, which demonstrates that the application meets all the Pilot Program’s requirements. Petitions accepted into the Pilot Program will be advanced out of turn (meaning accorded special status) for examination until a first Office action is issued. The official notice of the Pilot Program will be published in the Federal Register on Monday, October 27, 2025. The Office will begin accepting applications the same day (Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program, Docket No. PTO-P-2025-0182).

Background, purpose. While new patent applications typically are examined in the order of their U.S. filing date or national stage entry date, the USPTO has procedures to advance out of turn certain utility patent applications provided the applicant files (1) a petition to make special, or (2) a request for prioritized examination. 37 CFR 1.102. The Pilot Program is being implemented consistent with those procedures, requiring applicants to file a petition to make special.

The purpose of the Pilot Program is to assess how having a small number of claims under examination impacts pendency and examination quality. The USPTO intends to accept applications into the Pilot Program until each Technology Center examining utility applications has at least 200 pilot applications docketed. The purpose of this threshold is to ensure that data collected during the Pilot Program is a balanced representation of examination across all technology areas. During or after the Pilot Program, the USPTO will provide avenues for participants to provide feedback about their experiences.

Program requirements. The Pilot Program requires an applicant to file a timely petition to make special in an original (non-reissue), noncontinuing, utility application filed under 35 U.S.C. § 111(a) that has an actual filing date before October 27, 2025 (the date the notice of the Pilot Program is to be published in the Federal Register). To be eligible for the Pilot Program, an application must have no more than one independent claim, no more than ten total claims, no multiple dependent claims, and all claims other than the independent claim must comply with the dependency format the USPTO sets forth in the Pilot Program’s notice. An applicant may file a preliminary amendment in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121 to comply with the claim requirements before or with the petition to make special, though the entry of such a preliminary amendment will not be contingent on the grant of the petition to make special. The applicant must also certify that no inventor or joint inventor has been named as the inventor or a joint inventor on more than three other nonprovisional applications in which a petition to make special under the Pilot Program has been filed.

To comply with the dependency format for the Pilot Program, a claim must be in proper dependent form under 35 U.S.C. § 112(d), meaning that the claim must refer to a previous claim, include every limitation of that previous claim, and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter of the previous claim. In addition, the reference to the previous claim must appear in the preamble, and the claim must be directed to the same statutory class of inventions as the dependent claim.

If there is a nonpublication request for the application, that request must be rescinded no later than the time the petition to make special is filed, using form PTO/SB/36.

The USPTO provides form PTO/SB/472, titled “Certification and Petition to Make Special Under the Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program,” which must be used to submit the petition under the Pilot Program. The form is available at www.uspto.gov/PatentForms. The form contains the certification statements and agreement required for participation in the Pilot Program, as well as information about the required fee. It must be filed electronically.

Note that meeting the above-stated requirements does not guarantee acceptance into the Pilot Program. For example, if an application has already been docketed to an examiner in a Technology Center at the time the petition is being reviewed for decision (even if the application had not been docketed to an examiner at the time the petition was filed), it will not be accepted. Fees will not be refunded for petitions not accepted into the Pilot Program.

Petition processing. The USPTO will decide petitions once pre-examination processing of the application is complete. If the petition is granted, the application will be accorded special status under the Pilot Program and be placed on an examiner’s special docket until a first Office action is issued. After the first Office action, the application will no longer be treated as special during examination.

Restriction requirements. The USPTO anticipates that the claim set requirements of the Pilot Program will mean fewer restriction requirements than in non-Pilot Program applications. However, if an examiner believes that a requirement for restriction is appropriate, the examiner should try to contact the applicant pursuant to the telephone restriction practice in section 812.12 of the MPEP. If a written restriction requirement is necessitated, the application will no longer be treated as special.

Office actions. Applications accorded special status under the Pilot Program are placed on the examiner’s special docket until a first Office action is issued, after which the application will be entered on the examiner’s regular docket. The deadlines for replying to an Office action for an application granted special status under the Pilot Program will be the same as those set forth in section 710.02(b) of the MPEP, and replies must be fully responsive to the objections, rejections, and requirements the examiner has made.

Other procedural matters. Amendments, affidavits, or other evidence after a final Office action and prior to an appeal must comply with 37 CFR 1.116. Applications are treated in accordance with normal appeal procedure during the appeal process.

Applications involved in proceedings outside the normal examination process (such as a secrecy order, deviation proceeding, or petition under 37 CFR 1.181 through 1.183) will not be under special status while those proceedings are ongoing.

Finally, there is no provision for withdrawal from the Pilot Program. Applicants may abandon an application that was granted special status in favor of a continuing application.

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