C.F.R. » Title 37 » CHAPTER I—UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE › SUBCHAPTER A—GENERAL › PART 1—RULES OF PRACTICE IN PATENT CASES › Subpart B—National Processing Provisions

37 C.F.R. § 1.362

Time for payment of maintenance fees

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(a) Maintenance fees as set forth in §§ 1.20 (e) through (g) are required to be paid in all patents based on applications filed on or after December 12, 1980, except as noted in paragraph (b) of this section, to maintain a patent in force beyond 4, 8 and 12 years after the date of grant.

(b) Maintenance fees are not required for any plant patents or for any design patents.

(c) The application filing dates for purposes of payment of maintenance fees are as follows:

(1) For an application not claiming benefit of an earlier application, the actual United States filing date of the application.

(2) For an application claiming benefit of an earlier foreign application under 35 U.S.C. 119, the United States filing date of the application.

(3) For a continuing (continuation, division, continuation-in-part) application claiming the benefit of a prior patent application under 35 U.S.C. 120, the actual United States filing date of the continuing application.

(4) For a reissue application, including a continuing reissue application claiming the benefit of a reissue application under 35 U.S.C. 120, United States filing date of the original non-reissue application on which the patent reissued is based.

(5) For an international application which has entered the United States as a Designated Office under 35 U.S.C. 371, the international filing date granted under Article 11(1) of the Patent Cooperation Treaty which is considered to be the United States filing date under 35 U.S.C. 363.

(d) Maintenance fees may be paid in patents without surcharge during the periods extending respectively from:

(1) 3 years through 3 years and 6 months after grant for the first maintenance fee,

(2) 7 years through 7 years and 6 months after grant for the second maintenance fee, and

(3) 11 years through 11 years and 6 months after grant for the third maintenance fee.

(e) Maintenance fees may be paid with the surcharge set forth in § 1.20(h) during the respective grace periods after:

(1) 3 years and 6 months and through the day of the 4th anniversary of the grant for the first maintenance fee.

(2) 7 years and 6 months and through the day of the 8th anniversary of the grant for the second maintenance fee, and

(3) 11 years and 6 months and through the day of the 12th anniversary of the grant for the third maintenance fee.

(f) If the last day for paying a maintenance fee without surcharge set forth in paragraph (d) of this section, or the last day for paying a maintenance fee with surcharge set forth in paragraph (e) of this section, falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a federal holiday within the District of Columbia, the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge may be paid under paragraph (d) or paragraph (e) respectively on the next succeeding day which is not a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday.

(g) Unless the maintenance fee and any applicable surcharge is paid within the time periods set forth in paragraphs (d), (e) or (f) of this section, the patent will expire as of the end of the grace period set forth in paragraph (e) of this section. A patent which expires for the failure to pay the maintenance fee will expire at the end of the same date (anniversary date) the patent was granted in the 4th, 8th, or 12th year after grant.

(h) The periods specified in §§ 1.362 (d) and (e) with respect to a reissue application, including a continuing reissue application thereof, are counted from the date of grant of the original non-reissue application on which the reissued patent is based.

[49 FR 34724, Aug. 31, 1984, as amended at 56 FR 65154, Dec. 13, 1991; 58 FR 54511, Oct. 22, 1993; 82 FR 52816, Nov. 14, 2017]
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases, 1994–2015 · leading case: Network Signatures, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 731 F.3d 1239 (Fed. Cir. 2013).
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Network Signatures, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins., 731 F.3d 1239 (Fed. Cir. 2013). · cites it 2× “See 37 C.F.R. §1.362 . Mr. Karasek explained that the NRL made maintenance fee payment decisions once or twice a year, and that “if there is an expression of inter- est, the NRL will pay the nominal maintenance fee,” but will “allow the patent to go abandoned” as a matter of…”
Gharb v. Mitsubishi Elec. Corp., 148 F. Supp. 3d 44 (D.D.C. 2015). · cites it 2× “Gharb’s non-payment of the maintenance fees required Under 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 .” Unitronics (1989) (R” G) Ltd.”
Unitronics (1989) (R \ G) Ltd. v. Gharb", 532 F. Supp. 2d 25 (D.D.C. 2008). “Gharb’s non-payment of the maintenance fees required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 . See Pis.’ Mem., Exs. A & B.”
Samy Gharb v. United States, 112 Fed. Cl. 94 (Fed. Cl. 2013). “Gharb’s non-payment of the maintenance fees required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 .” Unitronics (1989) (R‘G) Ltd.”
Centigram Commc'ns Corp. v. Lehman, 862 F. Supp. 113 (E.D. Va. 1994). “Specifically, while the six-month grace periods had expired for both patents, the petitions were filed within the twenty-four month period prescribed in both the 1992 Amendments and 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 (e). Moreover, the petitions included the required maintenance fees and…”
Taylor v. United States Pat. & Trademark Off., 339 F. App'x 995 (Fed. Cir. 2009). “Section 2531 provides: If the Office considers a payment to be late or insufficient, a notice (e.”
MHL TEK, LLC v. Gen. Motors Corp., 622 F. Supp. 2d 400 (E.D. Tex. 2009). “The PTO lists the status of this patent as "Expired Due to Nonpayment of Maintenance Fees Under 37 CFR 1.362.” See Patent Application Information Retrieval, http://portal.”
Xilinx, Inc. v. Papst Licensing GMBH & Co.KG, 113 F. Supp. 3d 1027 (N.D. Cal. 2015). “See 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 . . The only authority Xilinx cites is Calix Networks, Inc.”
Samy Gharb v. United States (Fed. Cl. 2013). · cites it 2× “Gharb’s non-payment of the maintenance fees required under 37 C.F.R. § 1.362 .” Def.’s Mot. at 6 (quoting Unitronics (1989) (R”G) Ltd.”
— 37 C.F.R. § 1.362(e) — 1 case
Taylor v. United States Pat. & Trademark Off., 339 F. App'x 995 (Fed. Cir. 2009). “Section 2531 provides: If the Office considers a payment to be late or insufficient, a notice (e.”
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