What is the process for issuing a patent after the Notice of Allowance?
The process for issuing a patent after the Notice of Allowance involves several stages:
- Electronic capture of information by the Office of Data Management
- Initial Data Capture (IDC) for electronic capture of the patent filed (approximately 6 weeks)
- File Maintenance Facility (FMF) update (1-2 weeks)
- Final Data Capture (FDC) stage (average 5 weeks)
- Issue Notification mailed (approximately 3 weeks prior to issue date)
- Printing and mailing of the patent grant
As stated in MPEP 1309: “The average time that an allowed application is in the FDC process is 5 weeks (2 weeks of processing time for assignment of issue date). The “Issue Notification” is mailed approximately 3 weeks prior to the issue date of the patent.“
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