The United States Patent and Trademark Office has made several temporary rules changes in response to the coronavirus outbreak. These rule changes include:
Extension of patent and trademark related deadlines. On March 31, the USPTO announced extensions to the time allowed to file certain patent and trademark related documents and to pay certain required fees. This extension adds an additional 30 days for the due date for most responses to USPTO notices that are due between March 27, 2020 and April 30, 2020 as long as the filing is accompanied by a statement that the delay in filing or payment was due to the coronavirus outbreak. An acceptable reason for delay could be office closure, cash flow interruption, inaccessibility of files, travel delays, illness, or any other similar circumstance. A full list of the types of actions for which an extension is available can be found at the USPTO website at https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Patents%20CARES%20Act.pdf for patents and https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/TM-Notice-CARES-Act.pdf for trademarks.
USPTO offices closed to the public. Until further notice, all USPTO offices have been closed to the public. However, all USPTO operations continue to function without interruption. All examiner interviews, oral hearings in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), and other in-person meetings are being conducted solely by video or by telephone.
Waiver of petition fees. The USPTO considers the coronavirus outbreak to be an “extraordinary situation” for patent and trademark applicants, patentees, and trademark owners under the Code of Federal Regulations. Therefore the USPTO has waived petition fees in certain situations for customers that have been impacted by the coronavirus. These petition fees that have been affected include petitions to revive for patent applicants or patent owners who were unable to timely reply to a USPTO communication which resulted in the application being abandoned. Additionally, the USPTO is waiving the petition fee to revive for trademark applications and registrations that were abandoned, canceled or expired due to an inability to timely responds to an Office communication as a result of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
Waiver of original handwritten signature requirement. The USPTO has waived the requirement of an original handwritten signature for correspondence relating to: registration to practice before the USPTO in patent cases, enrollment and disciplinary investigations or disciplinary proceedings, and payments by credit cards where the payment is not being made via the USPTO’s electronic filing system.