Pilot Program for COVID-19 Fee Deferral in Provisional Patent Applications
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) began to allow deferral of fees for provisional patent applications on inventions related to COVID-19. This pilot program, which began on September 17, 2020, will be in effect 12 months until September 17, 2021. Under the program, payment of the provisional application filing fee can be deferred until the filing of a corresponding non-provisional application on several stipulations such as: (i) applicants must agree that t