Below are the general filing requirements for an ePetition requesting to accept late payment of the maintenance fee, pursuant to 37 CFR 1.378(b):
Only registered users of the Patent Electronic System may file this petition as an ePetition.
The user must enter a valid U.S. application number and patent number.
The patent must be in an expired status.
The patent must be expired for less than two years to file the petition as an ePetition.
If the filer has power of attorney, a valid Registration Number must be entered.
The filer must indicate the current entity status.
NOTE: A successful ePetition submission will result in an Electronic Acknowledgement Receipt and Grant Letter being generated. Petitioners should verify that the information on the Electronic Acknowledgement Receipt and Grant Letter is complete and accurate as proof that the ePetition submission was successful.
Additional information on petitions to accept delayed payment of a maintenance fee after expiration of the patent based on unintentional delay is available on the Common types of petitions handled by the Office of Petitions web page.