On November 6, 2009, the USPTO announced the initiation of a program called “Project Exchange.”  This program was initially limited to applicants claiming small entity status; however, the USPTO has more recently announced that this program will be available to all applicants, pending its publication in the Federal Register.  Under this program, any applicant having more than one application currently pending at the USPTO can receive expedited review of one application in exchange for withdrawing an unexamined application. 

 The purpose of this program is to reduce patent backlog at the patent office, as well as give applicants more control over the priority in which their applications are examined.  In exchange for abandoning an application that may be less important, an applicant can advance a more important application to the front of the examination queue.  In theory, this program will also benefit applicants that do not qualify.  Indeed, applicants should see their applications taken up for examination more quickly than would otherwise occur in the absence of this program even if they have only one pending application or do not have a pending application they are willing to abandon.

 The expanded Project Exchange will be limited to 15 applications per entity through December 31, 2010.  Additional details of this program will be available in the Federal Register in the coming weeks and on the USPTO website.