In a new circular issued today, the Israeli Patent Registrar, Dr. Meir Noam, announced of new guidelines whereby the Israeli PTO will grant priority to the examination of "green" patent applications, i.e. applications for inventions which promote the environment. An applicant who wishes to enjoy this benefit should enclose with the patent application a letter requesting the classification of the application as "green", and explaining to the PTO how the invention promotes the environment. Once considered "green", an application will be examined within 3 months (instead of 1-2 years in case of "standard" applications). Proprietors of patent applications which are currently pending, may also petition the PTO to classify their inventions as "green", in order to enjoy the priority in examination as well.