Go to MPEP - Table of Contents
1415.01 Maintenance Fees on the Original Patent [R-2] - 1400 Correction of Patents
1415.01 Maintenance Fees on the Original Patent [R-2]
The filing of a reissue application does not alter the schedule of payments of maintenance fees on the original patent. If maintenance fees have not been paid on the original patent as required by 35 U.S.C. 41(b) and 37 CFR 1.20, and the patent has expired, no reissue patent can be granted. 35 U.S.C. 251, first paragraph, only authorizes the granting of a reissue patent for the unexpired term of the original patent. Once a patent has expired, the * >Director of the USPTO< no longer has the authority under 35 U.S.C. 251 to reissue the patent. See In re Morgan, 990 F.2d 1230, 26 USPQ2d 1392 (Fed. Cir. 1993).
The examiner should determine whether all required maintenance fees have been paid prior to conducting an examination of a reissue application. In addition, during the process of preparing the reissue application for issue, the examiner should again determine whether all required maintenance fees have been paid up to date.
** >The history of maintenance fees is determined by the following, all of which should be used (to provide a check on the search made):
(A) Go to the USPTO Intranet (http://ptoweb/ptointranet/index.htm) and select the PALM screen, then the "General Information" screen, type in the patent number and then select the "Fees" screen.
(B) Go to the USPTO Intranet and then the "Revenue Accounting and Management" screen, then the "File History" screen. Then type in the patent number.
(C) Go to the USPTO Intranet Site (http://www.uspto.gov) and select "eBusiness", then the "Patent Electronic Business Center" screen, then the "Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR)" screen (http://pair.uspto.gov/cgi-bin/final/home.pl), and type in the patent number and select the "view Maint. Statement" screen.< If the window for the maintenance fee due has closed (maintenance fees are due by the day of the 4th, 8th and 12th year anniversary of the grant of the patent), but the maintenance fee has not been paid, then the reissue should be ** >forwarded to the Office of Patent Legal Administration (OPLA) to consider vacating and terminating the reissue proceeding (with subsequent abandonment of the reissue application)<. However, if time remains for applicant to pay the maintenance fee, then the application should not be rejected under 35 U.S.C. 251 and it may be passed to issue when it is in condition for allowance, because the patent has not expired. >The issuance of one or more reissue patents does not alter the schedule of payments of maintenance fees on the original patent. Thus, if a patentee obtains a reissue patent and then a continuation/divisional of the reissue patent issues as a second reissue patent, a separate maintenance fee is not due on the second reissue patent. 35 U.S.C. 41 does not provide for the charging of more than one maintenance fee for plural reissues.< See MPEP Chapter 2500 for additional information pertaining to maintenance fees.
Go to MPEP - Table of Contents