The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program, which moves qualifying patent applications to the front of the examination line, is set to end on October 27, 2026. The program, which began accepting requests on June 10, 2026, advances eligible applications out of turn until a first Office action is issued, potentially saving inventors months or years of waiting.
According to the USPTO, the pilot will close on October 27, 2026, or earlier if a Technology Center accepts approximately 200 pilot applications. Since June 10, 2026, the agency has also waived the petition fee for requests filed under the program, removing a financial barrier that previously deterred some applicants.
Eligibility is limited. Only applications filed before October 27, 2025 are eligible, so the pilot does not apply to new filings. Applications that claim priority to another nonprovisional or international application, including national stage applications, are also excluded. The application must be an original, non-continuing utility nonprovisional application, and the claims may include no more than one independent claim and ten total claims, with multiple dependent claims not allowed. The USPTO must not have issued a first Office action on the application. Applicants must submit Form PTO/SB/472 through Patent Center, and the specification, claims, and abstract must meet DOCX format requirements. An applicant may file a preliminary amendment to bring a pending application within the claim limits before submitting the petition.
"Many inventors in Livingston County and across Michigan have applications sitting in the examination queue, and this pilot lets some of them move forward without a USPTO petition fee," said J. Baron Lesperance, founder of The Patent Baron, PLLC. "Fewer claims can mean narrower protection, so we walk each client through that before filing."
The trade-off between speed and claim scope is central to the decision. A streamlined claim set may expedite examination, but it also limits the number of claims and independent claims, which can translate into narrower patent protection. For inventors and small businesses weighing whether to participate, the deadline creates urgency: once the pilot closes, applications revert to the standard examination queue, where waits can stretch for years.
With the end date approaching, pending-application owners have a narrow window to assess whether their applications qualify and whether the benefits of faster examination outweigh the potential downsides of a reduced claim set. The Patent Baron, PLLC, an intellectual property firm with an office in Howell, Michigan, is reviewing pending applications for inventors and small businesses that may still qualify. The firm, led by a patent lawyer in Howell, MI, assists clients with patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
As the October 27 deadline nears, the key implication for applicants is that inaction may mean losing a rare opportunity for expedited review without a fee. For those with qualifying applications, the decision requires balancing the value of faster examination against the scope of protection they are willing to accept.
