Patent maintenance fees are required to keep in force all utility and reissue utility patents. Maintenance fees are not required for a design or plant patent, or for statutory invention registrations.

You may pay without surcharge at 3 to 3.5 years, 7 to 7.5 years, and 11 to 11.5 years after the date of patent issue. You cannot pay early. You may also pay with a surcharge during the “grace periods” at 3.5 to 4 years, 7.5 to 8 years, and 11.5 to 12 years after the date of issue.

A patent maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge must be submitted in the amount due on the date the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge are paid. Payment of less than the required amount will not constitute payment of a maintenance fee or surcharge on a patent. If the last day for paying a maintenance fee without surcharge, or the last day for paying a maintenance fee with surcharge, falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a federal holiday, the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge may be paid on the next succeeding day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday.

If a maintenance fee has not been paid in a timely manner and the owner of the patent wants to get the patent rights reinstated, a petition and proper fees are required. Any petition to accept an unintentionally delayed payment of a maintenance fee must include: the required maintenance fee; the petition fee; and a statement that the delay in payment of the maintenance fee was unintentional.

The USPOT will require additional information when the petition is filed more than two years after the date the patent expired for nonpayment. The additional information is required to ensure that we are provided with sufficient facts and circumstances to support a conclusion that the entire delay was “unintentional.”