What is abandonment of a patent application?

Abandonment of a patent application refers to the removal of an application from the Office docket of pending applications. According to MPEP 711, abandonment can occur in two ways:

• Under 37 CFR 1.135, for failure to reply within the specified time period
• Under 37 CFR 1.138, through express abandonment

It’s important to note that this refers to abandonment of the application, not the invention itself. As stated in MPEP 711, “Abandonment may be either of the invention or of an application. This discussion is concerned with abandonment of the application for patent.”

To learn more:

• patent abandonment
• application abandonment
• patent procedure
• USPTO