Question:

What are the due dates for paying the maintenance fee without a surcharge?

Answer:

Due dates for paying without a surcharge are as follows:

* 3 to 3.5 years after date of issue for first maintenance fee payment

* 7 to 7.5 years after the date of issue for the second maintenance fee payment

* 11 to 11.5 years after the date of issue for the third and final maintenance fee payment

Chapter Details:

The answer to this question can be found in chapter 2500 of the MPEP. This chapter covers Maintenance Fees.

The answer is from the 9th Edition, Revision 07.2015. Depending on future changes to the MPEP, the question and answer may or may not be applicable in later Editions or revisions.

Section Summary:

This question and answer comes from section 2506 of the MPEP.  The following is a brief summary of section 2506.

2506 Times for Submitting Maintenance Fee Payments

This section covers the important application filing dates for the purposes of determining maintenance fee payments. It covers the time periods when maintenance fees may be paid without a surcharge and those when they can be paid with a surcharge.