MPEP § 2580 — MPEP § 2580
Current through: 2022-07-01

2580-Review of Decision Refusing to Accept and Record Payment of a Maintenance Fee Filed Prior to Expiration of Patent 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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 Chapter 2500 

 Section 2580 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 2580 Review of Decision Refusing to Accept and Record Payment of a
 Maintenance Fee Filed Prior to Expiration of Patent [R-10.2019]
 

 
 37 CFR 1.377 Review of decision refusing to accept and record payment of a maintenance fee
 filed prior to expiration of patent. 

 
 (a) Any patentee who is dissatisfied with the refusal of the
 Patent and Trademark Office to accept and record a maintenance fee which was
 filed prior to the expiration of the patent may petition the Director to
 accept and record the maintenance fee.
 

 (b) Any petition under this section must be filed within two
 months of the action complained of, or within such other time as may be set
 in the action complained of, and must be accompanied by the fee set forth in
 § 1.17(g) . The petition
 may include a request that the petition fee be refunded if the refusal to
 accept and record the maintenance fee is determined to result from an error
 by the Patent and Trademark Office.
 

 (c) Any petition filed under this section must comply with the
 requirements of § 1.181(b) and must be
 signed by an attorney or agent registered to practice before the Patent and
 Trademark Office, or by the patentee, the assignee, or other party in
 interest.
 

 
 

 37 CFR
 1.377 provides a mechanism for review of a decision refusing to
 accept and record payment of a maintenance fee filed prior to the expiration of a
 patent. 37 CFR
 1.377(a) permits a patentee who is dissatisfied with the refusal
 of the Office to accept and record a maintenance fee which was filed prior to the
 expiration of the patent to petition the Director to accept and record the maintenance
 fee. This petition may be used, for example, in situations where an error is present in
 the identifying data required by 37 CFR 1.366(c) with the
 maintenance fee payment, i.e., either the patent number or the application number is
 incorrect. See MPEP §
 2515 and § 2530 . A petition under
 37 CFR
 1.377 would not be appropriate where there is a complete failure
 to include at least one correct mandatory identifier as required by 37 CFR 1.366(c) 
 for the patent since no evidence would be present as to the patent on which the
 maintenance fee was intended to be paid. If the maintenance fee payment with an
 incorrect mandatory identifier was made near the end of the grace period, the patent
 might expire since the Office would not credit the fee to the patent. A petition under
 37 CFR
 1.377 would not be appropriate where the patentee paid a
 maintenance fee on one patent when the patentee intended to pay the maintenance fee on a
 different patent but through error identified the wrong patent number and application
 number. Likewise, a petition under 37 CFR 1.377 would not be
 appropriate where the entire maintenance fee payment, including any necessary surcharge,
 was not filed prior to expiration of the patent. 
 

 Any petition filed under 37 CFR 1.377 must be filed within 2
 months of the action complained of, or within such other time as may be set in the
 action complained of. The petition must be accompanied by the proper petition fee
 ( 37
 CFR 1.17(g) ). The petition may include a request that the
 petition fee be refunded if the refusal to accept and record the maintenance fee is
 determined to have resulted from an error by the Office.
 

 Any petition filed under 37 CFR 1.377 must comply with the
 requirements of 37 CFR
 1.181(b) and must be signed by an attorney or agent registered to
 practice before the Office, or by the patentee, the assignee, or other party in
 interest. A person or organization whose only responsibility insofar as the patent is
 concerned is the payment of a maintenance fee is not a party in interest for purposes of
 37 CFR
 1.377 . If the petition is signed by a person not registered to
 practice before the Office, the petition must indicate whether the person signing the
 petition is the patentee, assignee, or other party in interest. An assignee must comply
 with the requirements of pre-AIA 37 CFR 3.73(b) , for
 applications filed prior to September 16, 2012 or 37 CFR
 3.73(c) for applications filed on or after September 16, 2012,
 which are discussed in MPEP §§ 324 and 325 ,
 respectively.
 

 Any petition under 37 CFR 1.377 should be marked on
 the front page of the communication to the attention of the Office of Petitions and
 addressed as follows:
 

 Mail Stop Petition
Commissioner for Patents
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450

 [top] 

 

 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 2501-Introduction 

 2502-2503-[Reserved] 

 2504-Patents Subject to Maintenance Fees 

 2505-[Reserved] 

 2506-Times for Submitting Maintenance Fee Payments 

 2507-2509-[Reserved] 

 2510-Submission of Maintenance Fee Payments and Documents 

 2511-2514-[Reserved] 

 2515-Information Required for Submission of Maintenance Fee Payment 

 2516-2519-[Reserved] 

 2520-Maintenance Fee Amounts 

 2521-[Reserved] 

 2522-Methods of Payment 

 2523-2529-[Reserved] 

 2530-Special Acceptance of Maintenance Fee Payments Containing Informalities 

 2531-Payment Late or Insufficient 

 2532-Duplicate Payments 

 2533-2539-[Reserved] 

 2540-Fee Address for Maintenance Fee Purposes 

 2541-[Reserved] 

 2542-Change of Correspondence Address 

 2543-2549-[Reserved] 

 2550-Entity Status Discounts 

 2551-2559-[Reserved] 

 2560-Revocation of Power of Attorney and Withdrawal of Attorney 

 2561-2569-[Reserved] 

 2570-Maintenance Fee Payment Status Requests 

 2571-2574-[Reserved] 

 2575-Notices 

 2576-2579-[Reserved] 

 2580-Review of Decision Refusing to Accept and Record Payment of a Maintenance Fee Filed Prior to Expiration of Patent 

 2581-2589-[Reserved] 

 2590-Acceptance of Delayed Payment of Maintenance Fee in Expired Patent to Reinstate Patent 

 2591-Intervening Rights in Reinstated Patents 

 2592-2594-[Reserved] 

 2595-Forms 

 

 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
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 Last Modified: 
 
 03/09/2026 20:50:47