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thout authorization
from the patentee. The patentee may manufacture and sell the
invention or may. license, that is, give authorization to
others to do so.
The term of a patent is 17 years. A maintenance fee is due
3 1/2, 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 years after the original grant for all
patents issuing from the applications filed on and after
December 12, 1980. The maintenance fee must be paid at the
stipulated times to maintain the patent in force. After the
patent has expired anyone may make, use, or sell the invention
without permission of the patentee, provided that matter
covered by other unexpired patents is not used. The terms may
not be extended except by special act of Congress except for
certain pharmaceuticals.
MAINTENANCE FEES
All 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, etc. See fee schedule for a list of maintenance
fees.
Failure to pay the current maintenance fee on time may
result in expiration of the patent. A six month grace period is
provided when the maintenance fee may be paid with a surcharge.
The grace period is the six 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.
Patents relating to some pharmaceutical inventions may be
extended by the Commissioner for up to five years to compensate
for marketing delays due to Federal premarketing regulatory
procedures. Patents relating to all other types of inventions
can only be extended by enactment of special Federal
legislation.
CORRECTION OF PATENTS
Once the patent is granted, it is outside the jurisdiction
of the Patent and Trademark Office except in a few respects.
The Office may issue without charge a certificate
correcting a clerical error it has made in the patent when the
printed patent does not correspond to the record in the Office.
These are mostly corrections of typographical errors made in
printing.
Some minor errors of a typographical nature made by the
applicant may be corrected by a certificate of correction for
which a charge is made.
The patentee may disclaim one or more claims of this
patent by filing in the Office a disclaimer as provided by the
statute.
When the patent is defective in certain respects, the law
provides that the patentee may apply for a reissue patent. This
is a patent granted to replace the original and is granted only
for the balance of the unexpired term. However, the nature of
the changes that can be made by means of the reissue are rather
limited; new matter cannot be added.
Any person may file a request for reexamination of a
patent, along with the required fee, on the basis of prior art
consisting of patents or printed publications. At the
conclusion of the reexamination proceedings, a certificate
setting forth the results of the reexamination proceeding is
issued.
ASSIGNMENTS AND LICENSES
A patent is personal property and may be sold to others or
mortgaged; it may be bequeathed by a will, and it may pass to
the heirs of deceased patentee. The patent law provides for the
transfer or sale of a patent, or of an application for patent,
by an instrument in writing. Such an instrument is referred to
as an assignment and may transfer the entire interest in the
patent. The assignee, when the patent is assigned to him or
her, becomes the owner of the patent and has the same rights
that the original patentee had.
The statute also provides for the assignment of a part
interest, that is, a half interest, a fourth interest, etc., in
a patent. There may also be a grant which conveys the same
character of interest as an assignment but only for a
particularly specified part of the United States.
A mortgage of patent property passes ownership thereof to
the mortgagee or lender until the mortgage has been satisfied
and a retransfer from the mortgagee back to the mortgagor, the
borrower, is made. A conditional assignment also passes
ownership of the patent and is regarded as absolute until
canceled by the parties or by the decree of a competent court.
An assignment, grant, or conveyance of any patent or
application for patent should be acknowledged before a notary
public or officer authorized to administer oaths or perform
notarial acts. The certificate of such ackno
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