# 2025-12644: USPTO Boosts Fast-Track Patents to 20,000 for Inventors

2025-12644, 2025 Increase of the Annual Limit on Accepted Requests for Prioritized Examination, is a Federal Register rule from Commerce Department, Patent and Trademark Office published 2025-07-08, effective 2024-10-01; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-11).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-12644
- As of: 2026-06-11
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Document number: 2025-12644
- Title: 2025 Increase of the Annual Limit on Accepted Requests for Prioritized Examination
- Type: Rule
- Agencies: Commerce Department; Patent and Trademark Office
- Citation: 90 FR 29990
- Published: 2025-07-08
- Effective: 2024-10-01
- Comments close: not stated
- Significant: no
- Touches household money: yes
- Regulation identifier numbers: 0651-AD86
- Last updated: 2026-06-11

## In one line

USPTO Boosts Fast-Track Patents to 20,000 for Inventors

## Summary

Good news for inventors! The USPTO is raising the yearly cap on fast-tracking patent reviews from 15,000 to 20,000 requests. This means more people can speed up their patent applications starting October 1, 2024, helping ideas get protected quicker without extra fees.

## Abstract

The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) includes provisions for prioritized examination of patent applications. Those provisions have been implemented by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in previous rulemakings. The AIA provides that the USPTO may not accept more than 10,000 requests for prioritization in any fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) until regulations setting another limit are prescribed. In 2019 and 2021, the USPTO published interim rules that expanded the limit on the number of requests to 12,000 and 15,000, respectively. The current final rule further expands the availability of prioritized examination by increasing the limit on the number of prioritized examination requests that may be accepted in a fiscal year to 20,000.

## Effects PRIA read

- More Fast-Track Patent Slots: benefit, medium. If you apply for a U.S. patent, the USPTO will accept up to 20,000 prioritized examination requests in a fiscal year (October 1 to September 30) instead of 15,000. This change starts October 1, 2024 and allows up to 5,000 more applicants each year to speed up their patent reviews without extra fees.

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## Sources
- [2025-12644 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/08/2025-12644/2025-increase-of-the-annual-limit-on-accepted-requests-for-prioritized-examination)
- [2025-12644 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-07-08/pdf/2025-12644.pdf)

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Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2025-12644 (as of 2026-06-11).