How does the USPTO verify and process duplicate maintenance fee payments?

The USPTO follows a specific process to verify and handle duplicate maintenance fee payments. According to MPEP 2532:

“If the duplicate payment does comply with 37 CFR 1.366(c) by containing both the patent number and the corroborating application number, the Office will verify that the first payment was properly processed.“

The Office then takes one of two actions:

• If the first payment was properly processed, the duplicate payment is returned to the second fee submitter with identification of the first fee submitter.
• If the first payment was not properly processed, the Office will attempt to determine if it should have been applied to a different patent and either apply the duplicate payment or return it to the second fee submitter.

To learn more:

• maintenance fees
• duplicate payments
• USPTO procedures
• payment verification