38714 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 124 / Wednesday, June 29, 2022 / Notices 

Designated Federal Officer 

David.Turner@NOAA.gov. 

Special Accomodations: Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to the 

Designated Federal Officer by June 27, 

2022. 

Paul Johnson, 

Acting Chief Financial and Administrative 

Officer, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Research, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13925 Filed 6–28–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–KA–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No.: PTO–P–2021–0037] 

Fourth Extension of the Modified 

COVID–19 Prioritized Examination Pilot 

Program for Patent Applications 

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: To further support the 

acceleration of innovations in the fight 

against COVID–19, the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or 

Office) is extending the modified 

COVID–19 Prioritized Examination Pilot 

Program, which provides prioritized 

examination of certain patent 

applications. Requests that are 

compliant with the pilot program’s 

requirements and are filed on or before 

December 31, 2022, will be accepted. 

The USPTO will evaluate whether to 

terminate or further extend the program 

during this extension period. 

DATES: The COVID–19 Prioritized 

Examination Pilot Program is extended 

as of June 29, 2022, to run until 

December 31, 2022. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robert A. Clarke, Director, Office of 

Patent Legal Administration (571–272– 

7735, robert.clarke@uspto.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On May 

14, 2020, the USPTO published a notice 

on the implementation of the COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program. 

See COVID–19 Prioritized Examination 

Pilot Program, 85 FR 28932 (May 14, 

2020) (COVID–19 Track One Notice). On 

September 3, 2021, the USPTO 

published a notice extending the 

program to December 31, 2021, and 

modifying it by removing the limit on 

the number of patent applications that 

could receive prioritized examination. 

See Modification of COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 

86 FR 49522 (September 3, 2021). On 

December 30, 2021, the USPTO 

published a notice extending the 

program to March 31, 2022. See 

Extension of the Modified COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program, 

86 FR 74406 (December 30, 2021) 

(Second Extension Notice). On March 

25, 2022, the USPTO published a notice 

extending the program to June 30, 2022. 

See Third Extension of the Modified 

COVID–19 Prioritized Examination Pilot 

Program for Patent Applications, 87 FR 

17073 (March 25, 2022) (Third 

Extension Notice). 

The COVID–19 Track One Notice 

indicated that an applicant may request 

prioritized examination without 

payment of the prioritized examination 

fee and associated processing fee if: (1) 

the patent application’s claim(s) covered 

a product or process related to COVID– 

19, (2) the product or process was 

subject to an applicable Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) approval for 

COVID–19 use, and (3) the applicant 

met other requirements noted in the 

COVID–19 Track One Notice. As of May 

16, 2022, 261 patents had issued from 

applications granted prioritized status 

under the pilot program. The average 

total pendency, from filing date or later 

submission of a request for continued 

examination to issue date, for those 

applications was 280 days. The shortest 

pendency from filing date to issue date 

for those applications was 75 days. 

The Third Extension Notice indicated 

that the pilot program would expire on 

June 30, 2022. In the current notice, the 

USPTO is further extending the pilot 

program by setting the expiration date 

as December 31, 2022. The Office will 

evaluate whether to terminate or further 

extend the program during this fourth 

extension period. If the USPTO 

determines that an additional extension 

of the pilot program is appropriate, the 

Agency will publish a subsequent notice 

to the public. 

Unless the pilot program is further 

extended by a subsequent notice, 

following the expiration of this 

extension, the pilot program will be 

terminated, and patent applicants 

interested in expediting the prosecution 

of their patent application may instead 

seek to use the Prioritized Examination 

(Track One) Program. Patent 

applications accorded prioritized 

examination under the pilot program 

will not lose that status merely because 

the application is still pending after the 

date the pilot program is terminated but 

will instead retain prioritized 

examination status until that status is 

terminated for one or more reasons, as 

described in the COVID–19 Track One 

Notice. 

The Track One Program permits an 

applicant to have a patent application 

advanced out of turn (accorded special 

status) for examination under 37 CFR 

1.102(e) if the applicant timely files a 

request for prioritized (Track One) 

examination accompanied by the 

appropriate fees and meets the other 

conditions of 37 CFR 1.102(e). See 

§ 708.02(b)(2) of the Manual of Patent 

Examining Procedure (9th ed., rev. 

10.2019, June 2020). The current 

USPTO fee schedule is available at 

www.uspto.gov/Fees. 

The Track One Program does not have 

the restrictions of the COVID–19 

Prioritized Examination Pilot Program 

regarding the types of inventions for 

which special status may be sought, as 

the Track One Program does not require 

a connection to any particular 

technology. Moreover, under the Track 

One Program, an applicant can avoid 

delays associated with the 

determination of whether a patent 

application presents a claim that covers 

a product or process related to COVID– 

19 and whether the product or process 

is subject to an applicable FDA approval 

for COVID–19 use. 

Katherine K. Vidal, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2022–13892 Filed 6–28–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No.: PTO–P–2022–0019] 

Extension of the Cancer 

Immunotherapy Pilot Program and 

Request for Comments 

AGENCY: Patent and Trademark Office, 

Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: On June 29, 2016, the United 

States Patent and Trademark Office 

(USPTO) implemented the Cancer 

Immunotherapy Pilot Program in 

support of the White House’s National 

Cancer Moonshot initiative, which 

sought to accelerate cancer research. 

The program permits patent 

applications pertaining to cancer 

immunotherapy to be advanced out of 

turn for examination. To date, over 835 

petitions requesting participation in the 

pilot program have been filed, and over 

615 patents have been granted under the 

program. In view of the continued 

interest in the Cancer Immunotherapy 

Pilot Program, as well as the White 

House’s recent reignition of the National 


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