Below are the general filing requirements for an ePetition requesting to withdraw an application from issue after payment of the issue fee under 37 CFR 1.313(c)(1) or (2) when a patent number has already been assigned:
Only registered users of the Patent Electronic System may file this petition as an ePetition.
Not available for design applications.
The user must enter a valid U.S. application number.
The application number entered must not be for an issued patent.
The application must not be in an abandoned status.
The application must have a patent number assigned.
The Issue Fee must have been paid.
The patent issue date of the application must be later than the current date.
If the filer has power of attorney, a valid Registration Number must be entered.
The filer must indicate if the required documents and/or fees have been previously filed or will accompany the ePetition. For consideration of a Request for Continued Examination (RCE), the option to indicate that the RCE request, submission, and fee were previously filedwill only be displayed if the system can locate the RCE fee payment.
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.
Patents are issued each Tuesday at Midnight (12:00 a.m. Eastern Time). Petitioners must file and complete payment for the ePetition and it must be granted by the USPTO before the Issue Date. Please file the petition as soon as possible so as to avoid any computer system problems which may cause the patent to issue despite the petition to withdraw from issue.
Additional information on petitions to withdraw from issue after payment of the issue fee under 37 CFR 1.313(c) is available on the Common types of petitions handled by the Office of Petitions web page.