What is the impact of attorney withdrawal on maintenance fee payments?

The withdrawal of an attorney can impact maintenance fee payments in the following ways:

• The responsibility for payment shifts to the patent owner if no new attorney is appointed.
• The USPTO will send maintenance fee reminders to the correspondence address on record.
• If the address changes due to withdrawal, the patent owner must update it to ensure receipt of reminders.

MPEP 2560 emphasizes: “The withdrawal of an attorney may not be used to delay proceedings in an application.” This includes the timely payment of maintenance fees. Patent owners should ensure they have a system in place to track and pay fees even if their attorney withdraws.

To learn more:

• maintenance fees
• attorney withdrawal
• patent owner responsibility