Since April 18, 2023, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been issuing and publishing patent grants electronically. In the Federal Register Notice implementing electronic patent grants, the USPTO indicated that “Issue Notifications will be available electronically via the Patent Center after the payment of the issue fee, usually on the Wednesday or Thursday before the patent issues.”
Currently, the USPTO takes an average of around three weeks between Issue Notification and patent issue date. On April 15, 2025, the USPTO announced that as of May 13, 2025, “[t]he USPTO is reducing that time to approximately two weeks.” While the USPTO touts these improvements in its internal processes as “allowing patent holders to bring their investments to the market earlier,” they will require quicker applicant action.
In its announcement, the USPTO also noted that the reduction may obviate the need for a Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS). However doing so would preclude applicants from an easy mechanism to immunize their patents against post-grant challenges. In view of the reduction, applicants need to quickly consider whether a QPIDS is warranted if new art is discovered after issue fee payment. More importantly, the shortened time between issue notification and grant will require applicants to be more decisive about filing a continuation or divisional application.
In view of these changes, applicants may want to consider implementing a robust post-allowance assessment that includes a decision on whether to file a continuation or divisional application prior to issue fee payment. Applicants may also want to file continuation or divisional applications concurrently with issue fee payment or shortly thereafter. Additionally, applicants may want to act swiftly on new art after issue fee payment to avoid dealing with it post-grant.
