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1306 Issue Fee

MPEP SECTION SUMMARY In a sense, paying the issue fee is the final hurdle for an applicant. After receiving the coveted Notice of Allowance, the applicant must pay the fee required for the application to issue. Once this fee is paid, the applicant will receive letters stating he or she has been granted a bona fide patent. This section covers details on paying the issue fee.

  Section Frequency Chart

The issue fee and any required publication fee are due 3 months from the date of the Notice of Allowance.

If an issue fee has previously been paid in the application as reflected in the Notice of Allowance, the return of the Fee(s) Transmittal form will be considered a request to reapply the previously paid issue fee toward the issue fee that is now due.

• For example, if the application was allowed and the issue fee paid, but applicant withdrew the application from issue and filed a Request for Continued Examination (RCE) and the application was later allowed, the Notice of Allowance will reflect an issue fee amount that is due and the issue fee that was previously paid.

Under the Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act (PLTIA), the sum specified in the notice of allowance will constitute the issue fee and any required publication fee, and the Office will proceed to issue a patent when the applicant pays the sum specified in the notice of allowance, regardless of the issue fee and/or publication fee in effect on the date the sum specified in the notice of allowance is paid.

• Accordingly, applicants are no longer required to pay any balance of the issue fee when there is a fee increase.
• The amounts due under 35 U.S.C. 41(a) (i.e., the issue fee, but not the publication fee) are reduced by 50 per centum for small entities and 75 per centum for micro entities.

Where it is clear that an applicant actually intends to pay the issue fee and required publication fee, but the proper fee payment is not made, for example, an incorrect issue fee amount is supplied, or a Fee(s) Transmittal form is filed without payment of the issue fee, a general authorization to pay fees or a specific authorization to pay the issue fee, submitted prior to the mailing of a notice of allowance, will be allowed to act as payment of the correct issue fee.

• In addition, where the deposit account information is added to the Fee(s) Transmittal form, but the check box authorizing that the deposit account be charged the issue fee is not checked, the deposit account will still be charged the required issue fee and any required publication fee.

The fee(s) due will be accepted from the applicant, assignee, or a registered attorney or agent, either of record or under 37 CFR 1.34.

The Director has no authority to extend the time for paying the issue fee.

• Intentional failure to pay the issue fee within the 3 months permitted by 35 U.S.C. 151 does not amount to unintentional delay in making payment.
  

 

MPEP SECTION SUMMARY If applicant timely pays the issue fee, the Office will issue the patent in regular course unless the application is withdrawn from issue or the Office defers issuance of the patent. To request that the Office defer issuance of a patent, applicant must file a petition under this section including the fee and a showing of good and sufficient reasons why it is necessary to defer issuance of the patent. A petition to defer issuance of a patent is not appropriate until the issue fee is paid. Issuance of a patent cannot be deferred after an allowed application receives a patent number and issue date unless the application is withdrawn from issue under 37 CFR 1.313(b) or (c).

 

 

MPEP SECTION SUMMARY Where applications have been allowed and a Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due has been mailed in each application, a request for simultaneous issuance will be granted. Unless all the applications have reached this stage of processing, or a specific requirement of the regulations is involved, a request for simultaneous issuance generally will not be granted. The request must contain the following information about each allowed application for which simultaneous issue is requested; application number, filing date, name(s) of inventor(s), title of invention, and date of allowance.

 

MPEP SECTION SUMMARY A patent number and issue date will be assigned to an application and an Issue Notification will be mailed after the issue fee has been paid and processed by the USPTO. Since the Office cannot ensure that any paper filed after payment of the issue fee will reach the appropriate USPTO official before the date the application issues as a patent, applicants are also encouraged to file any necessary amendments, assignments, petitions, information disclosure statements, or other papers prior to the date of issue fee payment, preferably within one month after the Notice of Allowance has been mailed.

 

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