What is the Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2038) and when should it be used?

The Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2038) is a specific form provided by the USPTO for making credit card payments for patent and trademark process fees. According to MPEP 509:

Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2038) should be used when paying a patent process or trademark process fee (or the fee for an information product) by credit card, unless the payment is being made using the USPTO patent electronic filing system.

Key points about the form:

• It can be downloaded from the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov/PatentForms.
• It’s not required (and should not be used) when making credit card payments via EFS-Web or other electronic filing systems.
• Using this form helps keep credit card information confidential, as the USPTO does not include it among records open to public inspection.

Failure to use this form when submitting a paper credit card payment may result in the credit card information becoming part of the public record.

To learn more:

• Credit Card Payment Form
• PTO-2038
• USPTO payments
• patent fees
• trademark fees