37 C.F.R. 1.366 Submission of maintenance fees.

1. (a) The patentee may pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges, or any person or organization may pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges on behalf of a patentee. Authorization by the patentee need not be filed in the Patent and Trademark Office to pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges on behalf of the patentee.
2. (b) A maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge submitted for a patent must be submitted in the amount due on the date the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge are paid. A maintenance fee or surcharge may be paid in the manner set forth in § 1.23 or by an authorization to charge a deposit account established pursuant to § 1.25. Payment of a maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge or the authorization to charge a deposit account must be submitted within the periods set forth in § 1.362(d), (e), or (f). Any payment or authorization of maintenance fees and surcharges filed at any other time will not be accepted and will not serve as a payment of the maintenance fee except insofar as a delayed payment of the maintenance fee is accepted by the Director in an expired patent pursuant to a petition filed under § 1.378. Any authorization to charge a deposit account must authorize the immediate charging of the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge to the deposit account. Payment of less than the required amount, payment in a manner other than that set forth § 1.23, or in the filing of an authorization to charge a deposit account having insufficient funds will not constitute payment of a maintenance fee or surcharge on a patent. The procedures set forth in § 1.8 or § 1.10 may be utilized in paying maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges.
3. (c) In submitting maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges, identification of the patents for which maintenance fees are being paid must include the patent number, and the application number of the United States application for the patent on which the maintenance fee is being paid. If the payment includes identification of only the patent number (i.e., does not identify the application number of the United States application for the patent on which the maintenance fee is being paid), the Office may apply the payment to the patent identified by patent number in the payment or may return the payment.
4. (d) Payment of maintenance fees and any surcharges should identify the fee being paid for each patent as to whether it is the 3 1/2-, 7 1/2-, or 11 1/2-year fee, whether small entity status is being changed or claimed, the amount of the maintenance fee and any surcharge being paid, and any assigned customer number. If the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge is being paid on a reissue patent, the payment must identify the reissue patent by reissue patent number and reissue application number as required by paragraph (c) of this section and should also include the original patent number.
5. (e) Maintenance fee payments and surcharge payments relating thereto must be submitted separate from any other payments for fees or charges, whether submitted in the manner set forth in § 1.23 or by an authorization to charge a deposit account. If maintenance fee and surcharge payments for more than one patent are submitted together, they should be submitted on as few sheets as possible with the patent numbers listed in increasing patent number order. If the payment submitted is insufficient to cover the maintenance fees and surcharges for all the listed patents, the payment will be applied in the order the patents are listed, beginning at the top of the listing.
6. (f) Notification of any change in status resulting in loss of entitlement to small entity status must be filed in a patent prior to paying, or at the time of paying, the earliest maintenance fee due after the date on which status as a small entity is no longer appropriate. See § 1.27(g).
7. (g) Maintenance fees and surcharges relating thereto will not be refunded except in accordance with §§ 1.26 and 1.28(a).

37 CFR 1.366 establishes the guidelines and procedures for submission of maintenance fees, including any necessary surcharges. The patentee may pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges or any person or organization may pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges on behalf of the patentee without filing in the Office evidence of authorization by the patentee to pay maintenance fees. This will enable patentees to pay the maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges themselves or authorize some person or organization to pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges on their behalf. No verification of the authority to pay maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges in a particular patent will be made by the Office. While anyone may pay the maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges on a patent, if the payment is accepted by the Office, any Office notices relating to maintenance fees and any necessary surcharges will be mailed to the "fee address" set forth in 37 CFR 1.363. If the payment is not accepted by the Office, it will be returned to the person who submitted the payment if a return address is available. It is strongly recommended that the payor should include a return address along with his or her telephone number since the Office may contact the payor in some instances when it is unclear to which patent the fees are to be applied. See MPEP § 2530.

A maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge for a patent must be submitted in the amount due on the date the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge are paid, and at the proper time, i.e., within the periods set forth in 37 CFR 1.362. If the amount of the maintenance fee is correct on the date it is paid and credited to the patent, a later change in the maintenance fees to reflect a new fee amount will not require a modification in the amount paid.

37 CFR 1.366(c) provides that a maintenance fee payment must include the patent number and the application number on which the maintenance fee is being paid. If the payment includes identification of only the patent number (i.e., does not identify the application number for the patent on which the maintenance fee is being paid), the Office may apply the payment to the patent identified by patent number in the payment or may return the payment. See MPEP § 2530. The application number required to be submitted is not that of a prior parent application, but rather the application number of the actual application that matured into the patent for which maintenance fees are to be paid. If the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge is being paid on a reissue patent, the application number required is that of the reissue application.

If a patent expires because the maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge have not been paid in the manner required by 37 CFR 1.366, the patentee could proceed under 37 CFR 1.378 (see MPEP § 2590), if appropriate, or could file a petition under 37 CFR 1.377 (see MPEP § 2580) within the period set therein seeking to have the maintenance fee accepted as timely even though not all of the required identifying data was present prior to expiration of the grace period.

Under 37 CFR 1.366(d), the following information should also be submitted for each patent on which a maintenance fee or surcharge is paid (37 CFR 1.366(d)):

1. (A) the fee year (i.e., 3 1/2, 7 1/2, or 11 1/2 year fee);
2. (B) the amount of the maintenance fee and any surcharge being submitted;
3. (C) any assigned customer number; and
4. (D) whether small entity status is being changed or claimed with the payment.

Where the payment is a maintenance fee and any necessary surcharge on a reissue patent, in addition to the information requested for all payments, it is requested that the original patent number be furnished. Although the submission of the information requested under 37 CFR 1.366(d) is not mandatory, it would expedite the processing of maintenance fee payments.

The Maintenance Fee Transmittal Form, PTO/SB/45 should be used when submitting maintenance fees by mail or by facsimile transmission. This form is available, upon request, from the Maintenance Fee Branch. It is also available from the USPTO website (http://www.uspto.gov/web/forms/index.html#patent).

The Office processes fees in the order in which they are presented. If the payment submitted is insufficient to cover the maintenance fees and surcharges for all patents listed, and there is no general authorization to charge a deposit account, the payment will be applied in the order the patents are listed, beginning at the top of the listing.