Practice Note: PIER Pilot Program for US National Stage Applications

On 9 April 2026, the USPTO announced the PCT Informed Examination Request (PIER) pilot program.  The PIER pilot program will intermittently select U.S. national stage applications filed under 35 USC 371 into the program.  The program does not consider US applications filed under 35 USC 111(a), nor international Hague convention design applications.

The USPTO is implementing this program to evaluate how providing advance notification of examination to a US national stage applicant, and providing some control by the applicant on the examination process, will improve US national stage application examination.

Participation in the PIER pilot program is at the sole discretion of the USPTO.  In other words, once an application is selected for the PIER pilot program, the applicant may not petition to leave the program, nor be excluded from the program in any way.  Conversely, an applicant may not petition or apply to be included in the program.

The USPTO began issuing PIER program RFIs in selected unexamined national stage patent applications on May 21, 2026. At the outset of the program, the USPTO application selection process will favor applications having the following characteristics:

1. High pendency technology areas based on the age of the application;
2. Applications that are expected to be docketed to an examiner for substantive examination within 5-6 months; and
3. Applications in which the international phase work product cites at least one reference with an X or Y relevancy classification.

An applicant whose application is selected for PIER will receive a request for information (RFI) under 35 USC 1.105.  This RFI is considered an official action under 35 USC 132, but not an official action on the merits.  The RFI will reference the work product from the international stage (i.e. ISR/WO/IPRP) and require the applicant to choose one of the following three options:

1. Proceed with Examination (with or without amendment) – if the applicant chooses to proceed with examination, the application will be added to an examiner’s docket. The applicant may choose to amend the application with a preliminary amendment at this time;
2. Delay Examination for 12 Months – if the applicant chooses to delay examination, the application will proceed to the examiner’s docket after a 12-month delay period, which will start from the date of receipt of the response. Once this response is approved by the office, there is no way to terminate or shorten the delay period; or
3. Expressly Abandon the Application in accordance with 37 CFR 1.138. Expressly abandoning the application may result in refunded fees, and may allow the applicant to avoid publication of the application.

The applicant will have two months from the mailing of the RFI to respond, which may be extended for up to six months in accordance with 37 CFR 1.136(a).  If the applicant does not timely and completely respond to the request using USPTO form PTO/SB/478, the application will be abandoned.  The applicant must use the afore-mentioned required form and only select one of the above-referenced three options.  Responses that are incomplete or do not fully comply will be treated as non-responsive office action responses.  If the response is incomplete, yet displays a bona fide attempt to respond, a deficiency notice will be issued.

The USPTO plans to evaluate how the notice and control will impact an applicant’s decision making, application inventory, and quality and efficiency of examination. The PIER program anticipates that the RFI will incentivize applicants to evaluate chances of success, and the value and commercial potential of the invention earlier, thus requiring the applicant to consider abandoning applications with diminished value in view of the international work product before examinations starts.

Will this program reduce the national stage application inventory, and thus increase the quality and efficiency of examination of all US applications?  Will requiring applicants to indicate how they plan to move forward in view of international phase work products contribute to efforts to increase quality and reduce inventory and pendency?  Those are the questions to be answered by PIER.

The PIER program is scheduled to conclude on April 9, 2027, but may be extended if the USPTO requires additional data.  For more information about the PIER Pilot Program, visit the Federal Register Notice.  For more information on PIER and how to respond to a PIER RFI, visit the USPTO’s PIER pilot program webpage.  Of course, you can also contact the author with questions at cscherer@gklaw.com.