Patents issue shortly after the payment of the issue fee. As a result, applicants have a limited time, after the payment of the issue fee, to file continuing applications, Quick Path Information Disclosure Statements, or petitions under 37 CFR 1.313(c) to withdraw an application from issue. Therefore, the best practice is for applicants to file these submissions as early as possible. Preferably, continuing applications should be filed before the payment of the issue fee. See MPEP § 211.01(b), subsection I.

Effective April 18, 2023, the USPTO began issuing and publishing patent grants electronically via the USPTO patent electronic filing system . Patents are issued on a Tuesday shortly after the patent number is assigned. Issue Notifications are available electronically via the USPTO patent electronic filing system (Patent Center) after the payment of the issue fee, usually on the Wednesday or Thursday before the patent issues. For those applicants who participate in the e-Office action program, the USPTO emails notification of the Issue Notification to the applicant’s designated email address. For more information regarding the e-Office action program, see Electronic Office Action, 1342 Off. Gaz. Pat. Office 45 (June 2, 2009). For those who do not participate in the e-Office action program, the USPTO foresees the possibility that a patent may issue electronically before the applicant receives a mailed Issue Notification. The USPTO encourages applicants to use the e-Office action program to avoid this possibility. Alternatively, once an issue fee has been paid, the application should be diligently monitored for assignment of a patent number and issue date.

In order to minimize disruptions and delays in the publication process, filing of papers should be avoided when feasible after the Notice of Allowance has been mailed unless necessary for "Query Printer Waiting", amendments submitted under 37 CFR 1.312, information disclosure statements, and petitions. Corrected filing receipts will not be mailed after the date of mailing of the Notice of Allowance unless special circumstances exist. Duplicate filing of papers is not recommended (and may be treated as a failure to engage in reasonable efforts to conclude prosecution pursuant to 37 CFR 1.704(c)(10) ). The same correspondence should not be mailed and faxed to the Office unless the duplication has been specifically required by the Office. See MPEP § 719.01(a).