Pursuant to Subsection 12004(a) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and 37 C.F.R. § 1.183, and in response to the requests from stakeholders, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is extending the time period for petitioning for certain rights of priority or benefit in a patent application and waiving the associated petition fee.
The relief extends the two-month time-period for restoring the right of priority to or benefit of a foreign or provisional application for any nonprovisional application due to be filed on or after March 27, 2020, but on or before July 30, 2020.
Read the full notice on the USPTO website for further details.
Comments and patent-related inquiries concerning the notice may be sent by email to Covid19PatentsRelief@uspto.gov. If email submission of comments is not feasible due to lack of access to a computer and/or the internet, please call the Office of Patent Legal Administration at 571-272-7704 for special instructions.
The USPTO strongly encourages patent applicants to file documents and fees via the USPTO patent electronic filing systems (EFS-Web or Patent Center).