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USPTO updates access to Relevant Prior Art (RPA) Initiative
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) continues to explore, through the Relevant Prior Art (RPA) Initiative, how to automatically provide examiners with relevant information (e.g., prior art and search reports) from related patent applications as early as possible during examination to help examiners and applicants alike ensure their patents are born strong. This initiative started in fiscal year 2019 with the launch of a new process in one art unit in each Technology Center within Patents to import certain prior art citations from parent patent applications into certain continuing patent applications. While this initial effort was received positively by both patent applicants and patent examiners, resource constraints limited the expansion of the initiative until recently. With the development of a new tool to automate part of the process, we are now expanding this initiative to one workgroup in each Technology Center for a total of 61 art units. Further expansion is expected quarterly throughout calendar year 2026. A list of participating art units, including updates as they occur, is available on the RPA Initiative webpage.
For any questions regarding RPA initiative, please contact us at PriorArtAccess@uspto.gov.
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