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The Maintenance Fee Branch processes patent maintenance fee payments and fee address requests, updates the entity status for issued patents, and responds to inquiries regarding post-issuance status. The Branch also provides information for the publication of the Official Gazette, which provides the status of issued patents. Maintenance fees are due three times during the life of a patent, and may be paid without surcharge at:
Maintenance fees may be paid with a surcharge during the following "grace periods:"
If the last day for paying a maintenance fee or any applicable surcharge falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday, the fee may be paid on the succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday. If the maintenance fee and any applicable surcharge are not paid, the patent will expire at the end of the applicable grace period as listed above. A patent that expires for failure of payment will expire on the anniversary date that the patent was granted in the 4th, 8th, or 12th year after the grant of the patent. For information about which patents are subject to maintenance fees and the time of payment for maintenance fees, please refer to Chapter 2500: Maintenance Fees of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure. For information about other fees please refer to the USPTO Fees page. Customers may pay patent maintenance fees by using one of the following three options:
Please send correspondence related to maintenance fees that does NOT accompany a maintenance fee payment (i.e., entity status changes, fee address changes) to:
Please send petitions for delayed payment of maintenance fees due to unintentional or unavoidable delay to:
If you have any questions or require additional information about patent maintenance fee payments, please contact the Maintenance Fee Branch.
Our customer service hours are Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST
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