Submission of Maintenance Fee Payments and Documents

A listing of available payment options and current mailing

addresses is available on the USPTO website at

www.uspto.gov/PatentMaintenanceFees

.

I.

SUBMISSION OVER THE INTERNET

Maintenance fee payments can be made quickly and easily over the

internet at

www.uspto.gov

by electronic funds

transfer (EFT), credit card, debit card, or deposit account payment methods.

Maintenance fees paid online must be paid only through the Patent Maintenance Fees

Storefront (

https://fees.uspto.gov/MaintenanceFees

). See

MPEP

§ 509

and

§ 2522

for additional information

pertaining to payments by credit card and payments by deposit account. Payment

receipts for all payments submitted over the internet are available immediately in

the Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront after the payment is processed. Receipts for

bulk file payments of maintenance fees will include a listing of accepted payments

for each patent maintained in force as well as a listing of any payments that could

not be accepted with an explanation why. Note that the bulk file payment option can

only be done online using the Patent Maintenance Fees Storefront.

II.

SUBMISSION BY MAIL

Maintenance fee payments not electronically submitted over the

internet, and correspondence related to maintenance fees may be addressed to:

Mail Stop Maintenance

Fee

Director of the United States

Patent and Trademark Office

P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450

For maintenance fee payments to be delivered by mail

to the USPTO by a delivery service (e.g. Federal Express (Fed Ex), UPS, DHL, Laser,

Action, Purolator, etc.), rather than by the United States Postal Service (USPS),

the maintenance fee payments should be addressed to the Customer Service Window (see

MPEP §

501

, subsection III) with “Mail Stop Maintenance Fee”

included in the address.

37

CFR 1.366(b)

provides that the certificate of mailing

procedures of

37

CFR 1.8

or the mailing by Priority Mail Express® provisions

of

37 CFR

1.10

may be utilized in paying maintenance fees

United States Postal Service (USPS),

the maintenance fee payments should be addressed to the Customer Service Window (see

MPEP §

501

, subsection III) with “Mail Stop Maintenance Fee”

included in the address.

37

CFR 1.366(b)

provides that the certificate of mailing

procedures of

37

CFR 1.8

or the mailing by Priority Mail Express® provisions

of

37 CFR

1.10

may be utilized in paying maintenance fees. The specific

requirements of either

37 CFR 1.8

or

1.10

must be

fully complied with if the benefits of either are desired. See

MPEP § 512

and

§

513

.

III.

SUBMISSION BY FACSIMILE

Payment of a maintenance fee is accepted via facsimile to the fax

number stated on the Maintenance Fee Transmittal Form (SB/45), when charged to a

deposit account or to a credit card. Credit Card Payment Form (PTO-2038) should be

used if payment is made by credit card. See

MPEP § 509

and

§

2522

. In addition, requests pertaining to post-issuance

documents, such as change of correspondence address, assignment of fee address,

etc., may be submitted by facsimile.

37 CFR

1.366(b)

provides that the certificate of transmission

procedure of

37

CFR 1.8

may be utilized in paying maintenance fees. The

specific requirements of

37 CFR 1.8

must be fully

complied with if the benefits thereof are desired. See

MPEP § 512

.

IV.

SUBMISSION BY HAND-DELIVERY

Maintenance fee payments may be hand-carried to the Patent Customer

Service Window. See

MPEP § 501

, subsection III for information regarding

hand-delivery of papers. Although the receptionist will not process the maintenance

fee payment, if the payment is delivered with an itemized postcard, the receptionist

will provide a delivery receipt by date stamping the postcard. The maintenance fee

payment should be placed in an envelope with MAINTENANCE FEE written in dark ink

across the envelope.

[top]