Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) extended the time for small and micro entities to make certain fee payments until September 30, 2020. Also pursuant to the CARES Act, the PTO waived the petition fees for petitions to revive until July 31, 2020.
For small and micro entities only, the following fees due between, and inclusive of both, March 27, 2020, and September 29, 2020, will be considered timely if paid on or before September 30, 2020, if the payment is filed with a statement that the failure to timely pay the fee was due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:
- The basic filing fee, search fee, examination fee and late filing surcharge due in response to a PTO notice issued during the pre-examination processing
- Basic national fee
- Issue fee
- Maintenance fee.
The PTO will also waive the petition fee under 37 CFR § 1.17(m) for petitions to revive filed by July 31, 2020, if the failure to timely submit a filing or payment, such that the application became abandoned, or the reexamination prosecution became terminated or limited, occurred because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A delay in filing or payment is due to the COVID-19 outbreak if a practitioner, applicant, patent owner, petitioner, inventor or other person associated with the filing or fee was personally affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, including by office closures, cash flow interruptions, inaccessibility of files or other materials, travel delays, personal or family illness, or similar circumstances, such that the outbreak materially interfered with timely filing or payment.
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