Maintenance Status

The Maintenance Status field indicates if the USPTO has reported a U.S. patent as having lapsed due to unpaid maintenance fees or having other special conditions.

      
There are fourteen possible Maintenance status values:
  1. The default (no value) status is that the USPTO has not reported the patent as having lapsed.
  2. CC: Certificate of Correction issued. This only indicates Certificates of Correction issued since 1986. The absence of this code does not guarantee that a particular patent has not been issued a certificate.
  3. E1: Expired four(4) years after the initial issue date.
  4. E2: Expired eight(8) years after the initial issue date.
  5. E3: Expired twelve(12) years after the initial issue date.
  6. R1: Reinstated after E1
  7. R2: Reinstated after E2
  8. R3: Reinstated after E3
  9. B1: Re-examined
  10. B2: Re-examined 2nd time
  11. B3: Re-examined 3rd time
  12. W: Withdrawn. Patent number was assigned and later withdrawn.
  13. XT: Term has been extended
  14. M: Missing from this database, but believed to exist. Data will be added to the entry as it becomes available. Images and referencing patents may be available.

 
 

Current Status


     Maintenance status may be changed by the USPTO before we receive updated information. To verify the current maintenance status of a patent, please contact the Maintenance Fee Division (MFD) of the USPTO at one of the phone numbers below. As of April 2000, these numbers were operational and there was no known utility to verify status online.

Maintenance Fee Division phone numbers:
   (703) 308-5036   (703) 308-5068
   (703) 308-5037   (703) 308-5069

  
 

Maintenance Fees for U.S.

Note: the following information was obtained from the USPTO on 5/04/2000. Please check with the USPTO site for the latest list of fees. 		     
All U.S. utility patents which issue from applications filed on and after December 12, 1980 are subject to the payment of maintenance fees which must be paid to maintain the patent in force. These fees are due at 3-1/2, 7-1/2 and 11-1/2 years from the date the patent is granted and can be paid without a surcharge during the "window- period" which is the six month period preceding each due date, e.g., 3 years to 3 years and six months.

Failure to pay the current maintenance fee on time may result in expiration of the patent. A 6-month grace period is provided when the maintenance fee may be paid with a surcharge. The grace period is the 6-month period immediately following the due date. The Patent and Trademark Office does not mail notices to patent owners that maintenance fees are due. If, however, the maintenance fee is not paid on time, efforts are made to remind the responsible party that the maintenance fee may be paid during the grace period with a surcharge.

 
  
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