The US Patent and Trademark Office’s Deferred Examination Program allows applicants to delay examination of a filed application for up to three years. Such a delay can, for example, help inventors much-needed extra time to secure funding, develop products and conduct market research. So it isn’t a surprise that the Deferred Examination Program has seen a dramatic increase in applications in recent years.

Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Dan Ovanezian, former firm attorneys Jon Wolfsberger and Bill Jacobs, and Pure Storage Senior IP Strategy Manager Joe Kucera have written a new IAM Media article on the dramatic rise in Deferred Examination Program use. 

“Regardless of the reasons for use, it is evident that the Deferred Examination Program is becoming a valuable tool for every applicant’s and practitioner’s toolbox. In an environment in which more and more applicants are subject to budgetary constraints, it is likely that this drastic upward trend in the use of the program will continue,” they write.”

Click here to read “New Data Shows Dramatic Rise in Use of Deferred Examination at the USPTO” at IAM Media.