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In order to promote reliability and predictability of patent rights, we are clarifying our practice for situations that will require additional information about whether a delay in seeking the revival of an abandoned application, a delayed maintenance fee payment, or a delayed priority or benefit claim was unintentional. Specifically, we will require additional information when:
- a petition to revive an abandoned application is filed more than two years after the date the application became abandoned;
- a petition to accept a delayed maintenance fee payment is filed more than two years after the date the patent expired for nonpayment; and
- a petition to accept a delayed priority or benefit claim is filed more than two years after the date the priority or benefit claim was due.
The additional information is required to ensure that, in situations where there has been such an extended delay in filing the petition, we are provided with sufficient facts and circumstances to support a conclusion that the entire delay was “unintentional.”
You can find additional information in the Federal Register.
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