By Donald Zuhn --
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that it was extending the Enhanced First Action Interview (FAI) pilot program for another six months. As a result of the extension, the Office will now consider requests to participate in the pilot program that are filed on or before April 1, 2011.
In April 2008, the Office initiated the first FAI pilot program (see "USPTO News: PTO Announces New Program to Reduce Pendency and Improve Patent Quality"). Under the original pilot program, an examiner assigned to a participating application conducted a prior art search and provided the applicant with a pre-interview communication containing a condensed preview of objections or rejections against the claims of the participating application. Within 30 days from the issuance of the pre-interview communication, the applicant either scheduled a first action interview or decided not to have the interview. If the applicant chose the latter option, the examiner issued a First Action Interview Office action giving the applicant the longer of one month or 30 days to reply. If agreement could not be reached during the first action interview, the First Action Interview Office action was issued (with the reply period specified above).
In October 2009, the Office expanded the FAI pilot program to encompass additional technology areas (see "USPTO Expands First Action Interview Pilot Program"). In particular, the expanded FAI pilot program was modified to encompass the following art units: 161X, 1795, 215X, 216X, 244X, 245X, 2617, 2811-2815, 2818, 2822-23, 2826, 2891-289, 3671, 3672, 3673, 3676, 3677, 3679, 3735, 3736, 3737, 3768, 3739, 3762, 3766, and 3769. More recently, the Office extended the ending date of the pilot program from April 1, 2010 to October 1, 2010 (see "USPTO Announces Extension of Enhanced First Action Interview Pilot Program").
In last week's notice, the Office revised the eligibility requirements to include utility nonprovisional applications that were filed three months later than the previously listed dates. As a result, the pilot program now encompasses applications filed in the following art units by the listed dates:
• 161X -- applications filed on or before February 1, 2007
• 1795 -- applications filed on or before February 1, 2007
• 215X and 216X -- applications filed on or before May 1, 2008
• 244X and 245X -- applications filed on or before October 1, 2008
• 2617 -- applications filed on or before September 1, 2007
• 2811-2815, 2818, 2822-23, 2826, and 2891-2895 -- applications filed on or before August 1, 2008
• 3671 -- applications filed on or before March 1, 2007
• 3672 -- applications filed on or before April 1, 2008
• 3673 -- applications filed on or before February 1, 2008
• 3676 -- applications filed on or before May 1, 2008
• 3677 -- applications filed on or before October 1, 2007
• 3679 -- applications filed on or before February 1, 2008
• 3735 -- applications filed on or before August 1, 2006
• 3736 -- applications filed on or before July 1, 2007
• 3737 -- applications filed on or before March 1, 2007
• 3768 -- applications filed on or before November 1, 2006
• 3739 -- applications filed on or before March 1, 2007
• 3762 and 3766 -- applications filed on or before December 1, 2007
• 3769 -- applications filed on or before December 1, 2006
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