The government has dropped plans for a ‘superfast’ service which would provide patents in 90 days.

Patents usually take up to 18 months to issue but the government said it wanted to make it easier for ‘innovators to turn their ideas into business growth’.

However, a consultation found only three respondents who would be likely to use the service. Many serious concerns were also raised about the proposed service.

Concerns included:

• A higher risk of granting invalid patents, creating uncertainty for both patent holders and third parties.
• An increased burden on third parties to monitor applications and make observations in a severely shortened timeframe.
• A risk that rapid grant would be perceived as advantageous, when in fact it could be damaging, due to early publication in particular.
• Payment of a large fee for a service which offers very little real advantage over existing free acceleration options, which already meet business needs (and are capable of delivering grant in as little as 6½ months).

In light of these concerns it was decided that the government would not implement the proposed service or make any changes to the current patent application services.

Read the full Government response on the Intellectual Property Office website. 

Find out more about the current patent system with our Graduate Chartered Patent Attorney pages.