USPTO begins issuing requirements for information under the PCT Informed Examination Request pilot program for national stage applications
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently published a Federal Register Notice announcing the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Informed Examination Request (PIER) Pilot Program. The program is designed to assess the inventory and efficiency impacts of requiring an applicant to request examination in view of applicable PCT international phase work products.
Beginning May 21, 2026, the USPTO will begin issuing requirements for information under the program in selected unexamined national stage patent applications. The USPTO will select applications for the program across high pendency technology areas based on the age of the application. At the outset, the USPTO plans to select a subset of applications that are expected to be docketed to an examiner for substantive examination within 5-6 months. The selection will favor applications in which the international phase work products cite at least one reference with an X or Y relevancy classification.
If an application is selected for the program, the USPTO will issue a requirement for information (RFI) referencing the applicable international phase work products and requiring the applicant to indicate whether the applicant opts to proceed with examination, delay examination for a period of 12 months from the date of receipt of the request to delay examination, or expressly abandon the application. If the applicant opts to proceed with examination, with or without delay, the applicant may additionally opt to place the application in better condition for examination by filing a preliminary amendment. The RFI will be issued as form PTO-2357, which will be indexed in the application file with the document code “PIER.RFI.” To avoid abandonment of an application selected for the PIER program, applicant must submit a complete and timely reply using USPTO form PTO/SB/478.
Applications will be entered into the program at the sole discretion of the USPTO. The USPTO will not grant any petition to participate, abstain, or be removed from the program.
Under this pilot, the USPTO plans to evaluate how providing applicants with advanced notification of upcoming examination closer to docketing, as well as offering additional flexibilities in the timing of examination, impact an applicant's decision making, application inventory, and quality and efficiency of examination. For example, preliminary amendments immediately prior to docketing for examination will be evaluated to determine if efficiency of examination is improved. The USPTO expects that requiring applicants to indicate how they plan to move forward in view of international phase work products will contribute to efforts to increase quality and reduce inventory and pendency.
For more information on PIER and how to respond to a PIER RFI, visit our PIER pilot program webpage.
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