United States
PATENT ANNUITIES COUNTRY GUIDE
About this Guide
This series of Spotlight Articles developed by the Astria team, shares insights into patent annuity country rules and formalities, based on key Patent Offices (PTO) jurisdictions Worldwide. Astria’s software-enabled payments service combines; leading intuitive software, IP data integrity and outstanding paralegal services, within one solution.
This article highlights the United States, a key market for many of Wellspring’s clients.
US Patent Overview
In the US, patent annuity payments are due after the case has been granted. The first renewal payment is due 3 ½ years from the grant date. After the first renewal has been paid, there are 2 subsequent renewals due, at 7 ½ years and 11 ½ years from the grant date.
To ensure accurate calculation of US renewals in Astria, the grant date must be provided.
Entity size
At the time of filing a US patent application, a declaration can be made for the size of the organisation (or entity). The importance of entity size applied to a patent is that it determines the official fees applied to the renewal maintenance fees. Official fees are highest for large entity status patent families.
US
Patent Office
Renewal Process
Patent Applications
The number of patent applications filed in the US have increased by 0.5% from 2021 to 2022. However, although we see a small increase in filings, the most US applications were filed in 2020. As for the companies filing the most patent applications at the USPTO, the South Korean technology giant Samsung Electronics was awarded a total of 6,165 United states patents in 2023.
Patent Renewal Rules
As mentioned, renewals in the United States are payable after the patent grants. For example if a patent has a grant date of 07/09/2021, the first renewal will be due on 07/03/2025.
Astria displays the routine renewal payment deadline for renewals in the United States. Organisations do have the option through Astria to pause payment, as it is still possible to pay renewals during the grace period.
If the renewal is not made prior to the due date, it is still possible to renew the patent application during the grace period. For US applications the grace period lasts up to 6 months. There is only one late fee applied in the grace period.
Effortless IP Renewals with Astria
ensuring confidence in your renewal deadlines, data integrity, and process management.