What are the consequences of submitting insufficient fees for a patent application?

What are the consequences of submitting insufficient fees for a patent application?

Submitting insufficient fees for a patent application can have significant consequences. According to MPEP 509:

“An application filed with insufficient basic filing fee, search fee, examination fee, or oath or declaration will be treated as an incomplete application under 37 CFR 1.53(f) and will not be given a filing date until the filing fee is received.”

This means:

• Your application won’t receive a filing date until the correct fees are paid
• This delay could affect your priority date
• If not corrected promptly, the application may be considered abandoned

It’s crucial to ensure all required fees are paid in full when submitting a patent application to avoid these issues.

To learn more:

• patent fees
• insufficient fees
• filing date
• incomplete application