The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced that, effective April 17, 2025, it will suspend the acceptance of requests for expedited examination of design patent applications under 37 CFR 1.155.

This decision comes in response to a significant surge in such requests in recent years—an increase of 560%—which has contributed to delays in the examination of other design applications. In addition, the number of erroneous micro entity certifications has also risen sharply (over 1,400% compared to 2019), leading to improper receipt of reduced fees.

To address these issues, the USPTO intends to temporarily suspend the program to reduce examiner workload and improve overall examination efficiency and fairness. Furthermore, the USPTO has indicated its intention to permanently eliminate the expedited examination program and is planning rulemaking to remove both 37 CFR 1.155 and the associated fee provision under 1.17(k).

Any requests for expedited examination (including initial and renewed requests) submitted on or after April 17, 2025, will not be accepted. Fees paid on or after this date will be automatically refunded. However, USPTO still accepts filing of a petition to make a design application special without a fee under 37 CFR 1.102(c)(1), based on the applicant’s age or health condition.

For more information, please refer to the official USPTO website.