Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 96 Part 1.djvu/360

 96 STAT. 318

35 USC 133, 151.

Maintenance fees.

Expiration.

Surcharge.

Maintenance fee, delayed payment. Surcharge.

PUBLIC LAW 97-247—AUG. 27, 1982 "b. On filing each plant application, $200. "c. On issuing each design patent, $175. "d. On issuing each plant patent, $250. "4. On filing each application for the reissue of a patent, $300; in addition, on filing or on presentation at any other time, $30 for each claim in independent form which is in excess of the number of independent claims of the original patent, and $10 for each claim (whether independent or dependent) which is in excess of twenty and also in excess of the number of claims of the original patent. Errors in payment of the additional fees may be rectified in accordance with regulations of the Commissioner. "5. On filing each disclaimer, $50. "6. On filing an appeal from the examiner to the Board of Appeals, $115; in addition, on filing a brief in support of the appeal, $115, and on requesting an oral hearing before the Board of Appeals, $100. "7. On filing each petition for the revival of an unintentionally abandoned application for a patent or for the unintentionally delayed payment of the fee for issuing each patent, $500, unless the petition is filed under sections 133 or 151 of this title, in which case the fee shall be $50. "8. For petitions for one-month extensions of time to take actions required by the Commissioner in an application: "a. On filing a first petition, $50. "b. On filing a second petition, $100. "c. On filing a third or subsequent petition, $200.". (b) Section 41(b) of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: "(b) The Commissioner shall charge the following fees for maintaining a patent in force: " 1. Three years and six months after grant, $400. "2. Seven years and six months after grant, $800. "3. Eleven years and six months after grant, $1,200. Unless payment of the applicable maintenance fee is received in the Patent and Trademark Office on or before the date the fee is due or within a grace period of six months thereafter, the patent will expire as of the end of such grace period. The Commissioner may require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting within such six-month grace period the late payment of an applicable maintenance fee. No fee will be established for maintaining a design or plant patent in force.". (c) Section 41(c) of title 35, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: "(c)(1) The Commissioner may accept the payment of any maintenance fee required by subsection (b) of this section after the sixmonth grace period if the delay is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner to have been unavoidable. The Commissioner may require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting payment of any maintenance fee after the six-month grace period. If the Commissioner accepts payment of a maintenance fee after the six-month grace period, the patent shall be considered as not having expired at the end of the grace period. (2) No patent, the term of which has been maintained as a result of the acceptance of a payment of a maintenance fee under this subsection, shall abridge or affect the right of any person or his successors in business who made, purchased or used after the sixmonth grace period but prior to the acceptance of a maintenance fee

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