How Long Does It Take To Get A U.S. Patent?
There is no universal answer for how long it takes to go from submitting a patent application to owning a patent. The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) has been receiving around 600,000 utility, plant, and reissue patent applications per year for the last decade, and currently has over 1.2 million of these applications pending before it. This means inventors should expect to have some waiting period before they receive a response to their applications. To set a baseline, a majority of utility patents are granted within 3 years of the non-provisional application filing date. According to the USPTO's published data as of October, 2025, the average total pendency of a utility patent application – including granted patents and abandoned applications, but excluding applications that have filed Requests for Continued Examination (RCEs) – is 26.3 months.
Provisional Applications
Provisional patent applications allow inventors to establish a filing date and use a “Patent Pending” designation for their invention. However, provisional applications are not examined and therefore do not result in the grant of a patent without further action. A provisional patent application is active for 12 months from its filing date and then expires. Inventors may file a corresponding non-provisional patent application or request a conversion of the provisional application to a non-provisional application in this 12-month window. The non-provisional application will then be examined in accordance with its filing date. Filing a provisional application does not speed up the examination process of the non-provisional application.
Non-Provisional Applications
Excluding special circumstances, non-provisional patent applications are examined in the order they are submitted in, according to art unit. This means utility patent applications for different technologies (e.g. a biotechnical invention versus an semiconductor invention) may have different wait times for examination. Additionally, the number of communications between the USPTO and inventor required for a patent to be granted varies greatly between applications. Although rare, some applications receive a First Action Allowance, meaning they can become patents without any rejections from the USPTO. This can mean a patent is granted within 18–23 months after filing, and sometimes even sooner. A majority of patent applications receive at least one Office Action requiring response. Many receive a second, or Final Office Action, before allowance, and still others may proceed to RCEs or appeal.
The USPTO does its best to maintain various Patent Dashboard sites to give inventors a better idea of current processing times. As of 2025, only 22% of utility patent applications receive their First Office Action within 14 months of the filing date, with an average wait time of 22.5 months. After this first official communication, the USPTO and inventors engage in a correspondence pattern of Office Actions, or other official messages, and inventor responses.
Inventors typically have 3 months to respond to an Office Action, with the ability to extend the deadline up to 6 months for increasing fees. The USPTO aims to respond to all Office Action Responses from inventors within a 4 month window – if replies from the USPTO are delayed beyond this, the inventor may receive an adjustment lengthening the lifespan of their patent by a corresponding amount of time. This means that for an average non-provisional application which is allowed following a Final Office Action (three communications from the USPTO – the First Office Action, the Final Office Action, and the allowance), with responses sent to each Office Action in 3 months, and following USPTO communications sent in 4 months, a patent would be granted in 36.5 months. As First Office Actions may be sent sooner than 22.5 months, both the inventor and USPTO generally try send responses before their respective deadlines, and not all applications receive a second Office Action, many patents are granted in 24–30 months. For applications with a more complicated prosecution including at least one RCE, the average total pendency increases to 44.2 months.
Design Applications
Design patent applications are typically less technically intensive than utility patent applications, and fewer design patents are filed with the USPTO each year. According to the latest USTPO statistics, just over 65,000 design patent applications were filed in the 2025 fiscal year, with a total unexamined inventory of just over 71,000 entering 2026. This means that design patent applications on average have a faster and simpler path to becoming granted patents than utility applications. As of the end of the 2025 fiscal year, design patent applications had an average total pendency of 21.5 months from filing to final disposition (issuance or abandonment), and an average wait time of 16.9 months to receive a First Office Action.
Can You Get A Faster Examination?
For many inventors, the length of time required for patent prosecution is seen as a significant roadblock in pursuing intellectual property rights. The USPTO does provide some programs for applicants seeking a faster review of their application, though many were updated in 2025.
Track One prioritized examination: Track One examination is available for utility and plant patent applications, as well as some RCEs. Track One examination aims to give inventors a Final (second) Office Action or Notice of Allowance within 12 months of the application being accepted into the Track One program. As of July, 2025, the USPTO announced it would increase the number of patents that could be accepted into Track One prioritized examination from 15,000 to 20,000 each year. Inventors may request Track One examination by filing a request form with their application, paying an additional fee, and ensuring their application meets all requirements. According to the USPTO's latest data, petitions for Track One examination are usually granted within two months of filing, and a First Office Action for the application is usually sent within two months of that grant.
Patent Prosecution Highway: the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) offers applicants with international patents the opportunity to speed up their United States patent application examination. Pursuant to USPTO updates at the end of October, 2025, PPH applications are now docketed as Special – advanced to the front of the line for examination – once they reach approximately half the age of other recently docketed applications for the same technology. To access the PPH, inventors who have received a favorable ruling on a patent application from a participating foreign patent office may file a corresponding patent application with the USPTO and request accelerated examination under the PPH. To be eligible, the inventor must be able to submit a claim correspondence table showing that the claims pending before the USPTO correspond to allowed foreign claims.
Petition to Make Special: inventors may file a Petition to Make Special with their patent application, which advances the application to the front of the examination line when submitted. A Petition to Make Special may only be made under certain circumstances, such as if the inventor's age is 65 years or greater, or if the inventor's health may impair their ability to assist in prosecution.
Accelerated Examination: Accelerated Examination is available for design patent applications, but as of July, 2025 is no longer offered for utility patent applications. Accelerated Examination is similar to Track One in that the USPTO aims to return a final disposition on an application within 12 months of admission to the Accelerated Examination program, but has some additional filing requirements for inventors to be aware of.
If you have more specific questions about your patent application or need assistance with navigating the patent prosecution process, feel free to reach out to our legal team for guidance tailored to your situation. Go to https://long.law/intake to book a free consultation.