MPEP § 1126 — MPEP § 1126
Current through: 2022-07-01

1126-Publication Fees 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Manual of Patent Examining Procedure 

 Chapter 1100 

 Section 1126 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 1126 Publication Fees [R-01.2024]

 
 37 CFR 1.211 Publication of applications. 

 *****

 
 (e) The publication fee set forth in § 1.18(d) 
 must be paid in each application published under this section before the patent
 will be granted. If an application is subject to publication under this section,
 the sum specified in the notice of allowance under § 1.311 will
 also include the publication fee which must be paid within three months from the
 date of mailing of the notice of allowance to avoid abandonment of the
 application. This three-month period is not extendable. If the application is not
 published under this section, the publication fee (if paid) will be refunded. 
 

 
 

 The publication fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.18(d) must be paid in each
 application published (or scheduled to be published) under 35 U.S.C. 122(b) 
 before a patent will be granted on the application. The publication fee will be required
 with the Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due, unless the publication fee was previously
 paid. If an application becomes abandoned without being allowed, no publication fee is
 required. The small entity discount is not available for the publication fee. The sum
 specified in the Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due will also include the publication fee
 which must be paid within three months from the date of mailing of the Notice of Allowance
 and Fee(s) Due to avoid abandonment of the application. This three-month period is
 not extendable. 
 

 Applicant is required to pay the publication fee to avoid abandonment of
 the application even if the application has not yet been published at the time when the
 publication fee is due. The Office will continue with the pre-grant publication process
 until a patent actually issues. This is because there are many instances in which the
 Office mails a notice of allowance in an application but the application does not issue as
 a patent in regular course. Therefore, the Office will not discontinue the pre-grant
 publication process until a patent has actually issued. Since the Office cannot discontinue
 the pre-grant publication process during the last two to four weeks of the publication
 process, this will result in a few applications being issued as patents and subsequently
 being published as patent application publications. The Office will refund the publication
 fee (if paid) if the application is not published as a patent application publication, but
 will not refund the publication fee if the application is published as a patent application
 publication, even if it is published after the patent issues. Effective January 1, 2014,
 the publication fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.18(d) is $0.00.
 

 Accordingly, applicant may file a request for a refund of the publication
 fee after 4 weeks from the issue date of the patent if the application did not publish. A
 request for refund filed before 4 weeks from the issue date is premature and will be
 disregarded. Requests for a refund of the publication fee should be directed to the Office
 at Mail Stop PGPUB.
 

 If applicant files a request for continued examination (RCE) under
 37 CFR
 1.114 after a Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due is mailed (but
 before the expiration of the three-month time period set forth in the Notice of Allowance
 and Fee(s) Due), the Office will suspend the due date for the publication fee until three
 months from the mail date of the new Notice of Allowance and Fee(s) Due for the application
 (if and when a new Notice is mailed). See Time Period for Paying Publication Fee
 if a Request for Continued Examination is Filed After a Notice of Allowance is
 Mailed, 1249 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 81 (Aug. 21, 2001). For
 more information on RCE practice, see MPEP § 706.07(h) .
 

 [top] 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 1101-Request for Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) 

 1102-1110-[Reserved] 

 1111-SIR Publication and Effect 

 1112-1119-[Reserved] 

 1120-Eighteen-Month Publication of Patent Applications 

 1121-Content of a Patent Application Publication 

 1122-Requests for Nonpublication 

 1123-Rescission of a Nonpublication Request 

 1124-Notice of Foreign Filing 

 1125-Express Abandonment to Avoid Publication 

 1126-Publication Fees 

 1127-Notice of Publication 

 1128-Availability of Published Applications 

 1129-Request for Early Publication 

 1130-Republication and Correction of Patent Application Publications 

 1131-[Reserved] 

 1132-Requests for Redacted Publication 

 1133-Voluntary Publication 

 1134-Third Party Inquiries and Correspondence in a Published Application 
 1134.01-Third Party Submissions Under 37 CFR 1.290 

 
 

 1135-PGPub Forms 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:49:24