Patent Office To Speed Reviews Of Green Tech

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has launched a pilot program to accelerate the examination of patent applications for green technology inventions, such as new vehicle batteries and enzymes for cellulosic biofuels. "Applications in this pilot program will see a significant savings in pendency, which will help bring green innovations to market more quickly," PTO Director David Kappos remarked last week. The accelerated review process is expected to reduce the amount of time it takes to obtain a green-technology-related patent by an average of one year. It currently takes the patent office about 40 months to make final decisions on these applications because of a shortage of personnel. If the initiative proves successful, PTO will look for ways to expand the program, Kappos said.