What happens if there are informalities in my maintenance fee payment?
If there are informalities in your maintenance fee payment, the USPTO may specially accept the payment under certain scenarios. According to the MPEP, If the Office specially accepts a payment under any one of scenarios I – III below, a Notice of Special Acceptance of Patent Maintenance Fee (PTO-2143) will be mailed to the submitter that identifies the patent number and application number to which the maintenance fee was applied and requests the submitter to verify that the payment was applied as intended.
This notice allows you to confirm that the payment was applied correctly.
However, if the payment was not applied to the intended patent, you must file a petition, typically under 37 CFR 1.377. It’s important to note that If the petition is not filed within 2 months of the date of the notice (PTO-2143), the petition may be dismissed as untimely, and relief may have to be pursued under 37 CFR 1.378(a) – (c).
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