Suspension or waiver of rules (not provided for in any statute) petitions

IPLA – International Patent Legal Administration
OPET – Office of Petitions

Generally available

Petition typeAverage days pending of decided petitionsMedian days pending of decided petitionsGrant rate percentageDeciding officeePetition option
503 - Suspend or waive a examination related rule (37 CFR 1.183)10710554%OPET 
516 - Suspend or waive a rule for non-patent examining related matters (37 CFR 1.183)434220%*OPET 


Prior to examination

Petition typeAverage days pending of decided petitionsMedian days pending of decided petitionsGrant rate percentageDeciding officeePetition option
275 - To waive/suspend rules in national stage - 37 CFR 1.18381690%*IPLA 
Please scroll to the top of this page to view other petition types that are available during this stage.

*Infrequently filed petition

Displayed are the 12-month rolling average and median values. When the median value is significantly different from the average value, the median value will better represent when a particular category of a petition has been decided. This is because a small number of outliers can disproportionately impact the average value. The values exclude ePetitions.

The data is current as of December 19, 2023, and is updated quarterly.