PTO Program Aims to Streamline Patent Applications for Clean Tech
February 17, 2010, Los Angeles Daily Journal

On December 8, 2009, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) introduced its "Pilot Program for Green Technologies," a new initiative aimed at accelerating its review of patent applications for "green technologies."

Under the program, the USPTO will accept the first 3,000 petitions for accelerated examination. The deadline to file petitions to participate in the program is December 7, 2010.

One challenge attorneys face is helping larger clients take advantage of the program before it fills up, said Bijal Vakil, an intellectual property attorney and executive partner at White & Case’s Palo Alto office. “Multinational companies are so large, the challenge is to educate them about the rules before the cap is reached,” Vakil said. “If you’re a company with thousands of patents pending before the patent office, it does take a certain amount of time to go through their patent portfolio and see which ones fit into the purview of this program.”

The initiative will help companies quickly disseminate clean technology innovations around the country, Vakil said. “This is a huge boon to the startup world, particularly companies in the Silicon Valley,” Vakil said. ”Once the patent is granted, companies are more apt to deploy the technology in the patent, and it can enter into a licensing program to jumpstart the technology they have in hand. Without a patent, they aren’t able to do it.”