In
accordance with the temporary authority provided by the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today further extended the time to
file certain patent-related documents and to pay certain required fees.
The
USPTO has already extended various deadlines twice, with the latest
extension expiring at the end of this month. However, the USPTO
recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impose various
hardships, especially on small businesses and individual
inventors. Accordingly, as stakeholders continue to navigate the effects
of the pandemic in various ways, and as more and more of them are
resuming operations, the USPTO will again extend certain deadlines.
Specifically,
for small and micro entities, filings that would have been deemed
timely filed, if filed by June 1, 2020 pursuant to the CARES Act Notice dated April 28, 2020, will now be deemed timely filed if filed by July 1, 2020.
For
large entities, after May 31, 2020, relief will be available to those
who need it on a case-by-case basis. Such requests can be submitted
through a petition for an extension of time or a petition to revive.
In
the interest of maintaining flexibility and options for our
stakeholders, the USPTO will also extend its waiver of the petition fee
for filing a petition for the revival of applications that became
abandoned on or before June 30, 2020, if accompanied by a statement that
the delay in filing or payment was due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The
USPTO will continue to evaluate the evolving situation around the
COVID-19 outbreak and the impact on the USPTO’s operations and
stakeholders.
For details on the latest extension, read the official notice on our website.