{"id":3827,"date":"2021-01-20T18:13:14","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T18:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=3827"},"modified":"2021-04-28T12:14:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T12:14:17","slug":"calculation-of-ptas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/calculation-of-ptas\/","title":{"rendered":"How are patent term adjustments calculated?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"Patent<\/p>\n

If you encounter a delay during a patent prosecution, you have the ability to seek a Patent Term Adjustment (PTA). If your PTA request is approved, you will receive an extension of time on the standard patent term. This type of extension is sought most often with products that have long regulatory approval lifecycles. A common example is a company that holds a patent<\/a> on a pharmaceutical drug.<\/p>\n

The onus for offering PTAs in the United States can be traced back to the adoption of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in 1995. The U.S. adopted GATT in an effort to harmonize the U.S. patent term with other developed countries. This is why the patent term in the U.S. is now limited to 20 years from the earliest effective filing date.\u00a0 However, this also means that any delays during examination would erode a patent\u2019s period of enforceability. This exposes a patent applicant to losing potentially millions of dollars or more. When the U.S. adopted GATT, the burden was placed on the applicant to avoid delays during examination. This meant a delay caused by the USPTO could cost an applicant days or years of patent term without any recourse. Congress created the PTA to remedy this issue.<\/p>\n

The objective of a PTA is to modify the patent term in an effort to compensate for a delay caused by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office<\/a> (USPTO) during the patent examination process. In basic terms, the calculation used for a PTA is taking the number of days of USPTO delay and subtracting the number of days that the application has been delayed.<\/p>\n

Acceptance of Patent Term Adjustment <\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is not possible to obtain a PTA randomly. There need to be specific factual scenarios in order to qualify for a PTA. Such scenarios include:<\/p>\n