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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently released statistics about its Fast-Track Appeals Pilot Program. The program went into effect on July 2, 2020 and is currently slated to run until the earlier of July 2, 2021 and 500 appeals being accepted into the program. Any ex parte appeal pending at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is eligible for this program, so it is worthwhile for patent applicants to keep it in mind as an option to speed PTAB appeal.
The Fast-Track program aims to expedite PTAB decision to within 6 months of acceptance into the program. PTAB appeals typically take 13-15 months to decision, per USPTO statistics provided here and here. Under the Fast-Track program, PTAB decisions have issued after 1.9 months on average. Acceptance into the program is also fast, averaging just 1.5 days after petition filing. Up to 125 applications can be accepted into the program each quarter, with