Certification and Petition Under the Standards Participation and Representation Kudos (SPARK) Pilot Program to Expedite an Appea

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CERTIFICATION AND PETITION UNDER THE 
STANDARDS PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION KUDOS (SPARK) PILOT PROGRAM TO EXPEDITE AN APPEAL TO THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD (PTAB)
 Appeal Number

 First Named Inventor

 Nonprovisional Application Number (if known)

 Title of Invention

APPELLANT HEREBY CERTIFIES THE FOLLOWING AND PETITIONS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SPARK PILOT PROGRAM (“PROGRAM”) FOR THE ABOVE-IDENTIFIED APPEAL (“APPEAL”). 
    1. 1
Application and claim requirements:
    a. The above-identified application (“application”) is an original (non-reissue) utility application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a).
    b. The application contains no more than three independent claims, no more than 20 total claims, and does not contain any multiple dependent claims. Note: An amendment may be submitted together with this petition to cancel any excess claims or multiple dependent claims. Entry of the amendment is subject to 37 CFR 41.33. An amendment to the claims submitted after the filing date of this petition will not be considered in deciding this petition.
    c. The application is in a discounted fee status (that is, appellant has already asserted small entity status or certified micro entity status).
    d. The application names a single juristic entity as the applicant.
    2. 
The appeal is currently not treated as special under MPEP 708.01 or under any other program.
    3. 
Appellant is a juristic entity and is a small business concern or a non-profit organization (including a university or other institution of higher education) that is domiciled in the United States or its territories, as evidenced by its mailing address of record. Note: For purposes of this program, the domicile of a juristic applicant is the principal place of business of the applicant. A corrected Application Data Sheet (ADS) updating appellant’s mailing address to match its domicile may be submitted together with this petition in order to qualify for this program. 
    4. 
Appellant qualifies as a small entity under 37 CFR 1.27 at the time of filing this petition.
    5. 
Appellant meaningfully participated in developing a technical standard with a voluntary consensus-based standards development organization (SDO) on or after January 13, 2026. The complete identification of the technical standard is provided below: (please use the following format: [prefix containing acronym for SDO(s)] [unique identifier] [year of publication] [title] (revision of [technical standard] (if applicable))
Examples: 
ISO/IEC 42001:2023 Information Technology – Artificial Intelligence – Management System 
ANSI/ICEA S-83-596-2022, Standard for Indoor Optical Cable (revision of ANSI/ICEA S-83-596-2016)

Technical standard:___________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
    6. 
Appellant meaningfully participated in developing the technical standard identified in item 5 by completing 40 or more hours of active participation with the voluntary consensus-based SDO in developing the standard.         Note: Non-limiting examples of active participation with a voluntary consensus-based SDO include drafting and submitting proposals or technical contributions, participating in a working group or technical committee, and providing public comments on a draft technical standard.
    7. 
Appellant has not submitted any other petition under this program based on the technical standard identified in item 5 that was granted or is currently undecided. Note: No more than one petition (either form PTO/SB/479a or PTO/SB/479b) based on appellant’s participation in developing the same technical standard may be granted under the program or be currently undecided.
    8. 
Appellant has not submitted more than two other petitions under this program.
    9. 
This petition is being filed using the USPTO’s electronic filing system between (1) the date when the PTAB issues a notice that the appeal has been docketed to the PTAB, and (2) the date at which the appellant withdraws the appeal, a final decision is rendered by the PTAB under 37 CFR 41.50, or PTAB jurisdiction ends under 37 CFR 41.35.
Note: The fee set forth in 37 CFR 41.20(a) for a petition under 37 CFR 41.3 has been waived for this program. Both petitions filed using form PTO/SB/479a and petitions filed using form PTO/SB/479b are counted towards the petition filing limit. There is no opportunity to correct deficiencies if this petition is dismissed on its merits. Meeting the requirements of the program will not ensure acceptance into the program. For example, the petition may be dismissed if a quota for the number of granted petitions has been reached. For more information on the program, see the 2026 Federal Register notice titled “Standards Participation and Representation Kudos (SPARK) Pilot Program” available at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/laws/patent-related-notices/patent-related-notices-2026.
 Signature

 Date

Name (Printed/Typed)

Practitioner Registration  Number

Note: Signature of the patent practitioner is required in accordance with 37 CFR 1.33(b) and 11.18. Please see 37 CFR 1.4(d) for the form of the signature.

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