As of April 16, the program had received only 169 petitions with 76 granted. The extension timeline and specific metrics for each Technology Center remain subject to uptake. The USPTO has not disclosed whether additional incentives or modifications are planned if participation continues to lag.
Patent prosecutors should monitor this program as a potential tool for early prior art visibility, which can reshape prosecution strategy months before traditional USPTO searches occur. The low uptake despite fee waivers suggests many practitioners remain skeptical of AI-assisted searching or unfamiliar with the pilot. Attorneys handling high-volume prosecution portfolios may want to test the program on select applications to evaluate the quality and utility of the automated results before the June 1 deadline.