What is the difference between a correspondence address and a fee address?

The correspondence address and fee address serve different purposes in patent communications:

• Correspondence Address: Used for general communications related to the patent, including notices and receipts during prosecution and after issuance.
• Fee Address: Specifically designated for communications related to maintenance fees.

The MPEP notes: “Unless a fee address has been designated, notices, receipts, and other communications relating to the patent will generally be directed to the correspondence address (37 CFR 1.33) used during the prosecution of the application.” (MPEP 2542)

If practitioners wish to separate maintenance fee communications from other patent correspondence, they can designate a fee address while maintaining a different correspondence address for other matters.

To learn more:

• correspondence address
• fee address
• patent communications
• maintenance fees