Contents
- (a) General Fees.—23 changes
- (b) Maintenance Fees.—6 changes
- (c) Delays in Payment of Maintenance Fees.—6 changes
- (d) Patent Search and Other Fees.—3 changes
- (e) Waiver of Fees; Copies Regarding Notice.—1 change
- (f) Adjustment of Fees.—3 changes
- (h) Fees for Small Entities.—5 changes
- (i) Electronic Patent and Trademark Data.—4 changes
- (j) Penalty for False Assertions.—2 changes
- [(g) Repealed. Pub. L. 112–29, § 11(e)(3), Sept. 16, 2011, 125…2 changes
(c)
(1)The Director may accept the payment of any maintenance fee required by subsection (b) after the 6-month grace period if the delay is shown to the satisfaction of the Director to have been unintentional. The Director may require the payment of the fee specified in subsection (a)(7) as a condition of accepting payment of any maintenance fee after the 6-month grace period. If the Director accepts payment of a maintenance fee after the 6-month grace period, the patent shall be considered as not having expired at the end of the grace period.
(2)A patent, the term of which has been maintained as a result of the acceptance of a payment of a maintenance fee under this subsection, shall not abridge or affect the right of any person or that person’s successors in business who made, purchased, offered to sell, or used anything protected by the patent within the United States, or imported anything protected by the patent into the United States after the 6-month grace period but prior to the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection, to continue the use of, to offer for sale, or to sell to others to be used, offered for sale, or sold, the specific thing so made, purchased, offered for sale, used, or imported. The court before which such matter is in question may provide for the continued manufacture, use, offer for sale, or sale of the thing made, purchased, offered for sale, or used within the United States, or imported into the United States, as specified, or for the manufacture, use, offer for sale, or sale in the United States of which substantial preparation was made after the 6-month grace period but before the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection, and the court may also provide for the continued practice of any process that is practiced, or for the practice of which substantial preparation was made, after the 6-month grace period but before the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection, to the extent and under such terms as the court deems equitable for the protection of investments made or business commenced after the 6-month grace period but before the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection.
United States Government work; public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105.