USPTO Launches PIER Pilot Program for National Stage Applications

03 Jun 2026

By Antonio Lovecchio

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced a new pilot program that could significantly impact applicants entering the U.S. through the international patent system.

Effective April 9, 2026, the USPTO implemented the PCT Informed Examination Request (PIER) Pilot Program for certain patent applications entering the U.S. national phase under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Under this new program, the USPTO will select certain unexamined national stage applications and require applicants to confirm whether they still wish to pursue examination after reviewing their international phase results (such as the international search report and written opinion). Applicants selected for the pilot will receive a formal notice requiring them to choose one of three paths:

Proceed with examination;
Delay examination for 12 months; or
Expressly abandon the application.

Applicants wishing to proceed may also file a preliminary amendment to place the application in a better condition for examination. If an applicant chooses to delay, the application will not be sent to an examiner's docket until one year later.

For Chinese and other international applicants, this marks a notable shift in U.S. practice. Traditionally, once a PCT application entered the U.S. national phase, examination would begin automatically in due course. Under this pilot, selected applicants must actively confirm their intent to continue.

The USPTO appears to be leveraging international phase work products as a screening tool. If an international search report or written opinion already indicates serious issues with novelty or inventive step, applicants may decide that continuing prosecution in the U.S. is no longer commercially justified.

The Office hopes this mechanism will weed out applications with little prospect of success. According to the USPTO, the ultimate objectives are to reduce the examination backlog, shorten pendency, and improve overall examination quality.

The pilot program will initially run from April 9, 2026, to April 9, 2027.

Only certain national stage applications filed under 35 U.S.C. § 371 are eligible.

U.S. domestic filings, continuation applications (including bypass continuations), design patents, plant patents, and reissue applications are strictly excluded. Furthermore, participation is entirely at the USPTO’s discretion; applicants cannot request to join the program, nor can they opt out once selected.

For Chinese companies and foreign applicants who routinely use the PCT route to enter the U.S. market, the practical implications are significant:

Meticulous Review: International phase results should be evaluated more carefully before committing to the U.S. national phase.
Rapid Decision-Making: Applicants must be prepared to decide quickly whether to continue prosecution if an unexpected notice is received.
Proactive Amendments: Where the international search report reveals highly relevant prior art, applicants may want to draft claim amendments well in advance.
Strategic Deferrals: The new 12-month delay option provides a useful window for applicants needing extra time to evaluate commercial viability or secure funding before investing heavily in U.S. prosecution.

However, a critical trap for the unwary remains: choosing the 12-month delay option will likely reduce the amount of Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) eventually available, as the USPTO will treat this period as applicant-caused delay.

From a broader perspective, the PIER program reflects a growing global trend among patent offices to rely on work already completed during the international phase. For applicants, this underscores that the quality of the original PCT filing, its claims, and the responses filed during the international phase will dictate success long before national phase examination even begins in the United States.