A patent expires early when the normal maintenance fees are not paid to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Expired patents may be reinstated if late payment of the maintenance fees is accepted. The database includes notices of requests for reexamination as well as the reexamination results. Patents may be reissued if the changes are substantial enough to necessitate republication rather than issuance of correction notices. Interference actions resulting in adverse decisions will adversely affect patent owners' rights to the patent.
All records contain the orginal patent assignee, patent number, and publication date.
Other post-issuance status information typically contains the date of the legal action, the date it was recorded in the Official Gazette and any additional applicable information such as request number, descriptive text, etc. Reexamination records also contain the text of any modified claims. Under no circumstances may copies under the provision be be offered for for resale or sale.