Record patent maintenance facts from the grant date
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- Record the grant date, the filing date of the application, and whether the file shows a maintenance payment. Leave each due date blank. Do not decide that the patent expired and do not treat this record as a term extension.
- What the lawyer must review
- Section 41(b) says the Director shall charge fees for maintaining in force all patents based on applications filed on or after 12 December 1980, at three years and six months after grant, seven years and six months after grant, and eleven years and six months after grant. The section states dollar amounts for those three fees. You confirm the current schedule before any payment, because a later adjustment may differ from this page. Unless payment is received on or before the date the fee is due or within a grace period of six months thereafter, the patent shall expire as of the end of that grace period. The Director may require a surcharge as a condition of accepting payment within the grace period. No fee may be established for maintaining a design or plant patent in force. The Director may accept payment after the six-month grace period if the delay is shown to the satisfaction of the Director to have been unintentional, and may require the fee specified in subsection (a)(7) as a condition. If the payment is accepted, the patent shall be considered as not having expired at the end of the grace period. You read the whole of section 41(c), including its effect on the rights of others, before you advise on a late payment. You do not decide that a delay was unintentional. Section 173 states the term of a design patent. It is not this maintenance schedule. This record is not an extension for regulatory review.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Do not begin AI assistance until the responsible lawyer has defined and confirmed its permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Trace every relied-on figure to its source, confirm dates and assumptions, and independently recalculate totals or derived amounts.
- Check the current court or regulator requirements, prescribed form and attachments for the intended document and filing.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.