A Preissuance Submission (PIS) is a submission of evidence challenging the validity of the claims made about a pending patent application before the patent is granted. When patent examiners evaluate whether an invention claimed in a patent application is new, useful, and non-obvious, they look for “prior art” — any evidence that what is in the claim has already been described.

In most cases, the USPTO publishes pending patent applications 18 months after the initial filing date. There are several tools the public can use to view published pending patent applications and to stay updated as applications move through the examination process.  

In March 2023, USDA published More and Better Choices for Farmers (pdf), a report responding to the Biden Administration’s historic Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. USDA moved quickly to execute the report’s top recommendation: to establish a “Farmer Seed Liaison” within the Agricultural Marketing Service.