Congrats on that new patent! That’s a big accomplishment – but it’s not the finish line. To keep a utility patent active and enforceable, you need to maintain it by paying fees at specific time intervals.

🧾 Why Maintenance Fees Matter

Once your utility patent is granted, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) requires that you pay maintenance fees at set times. These fees are what keep your patent alive—think of them like check-ins to confirm you still want and value the patent rights.

If you don’t pay the fee by the deadline, your patent will lapse, meaning it’s no longer enforceable.

📅 When Are Patent Maintenance Fees Due?

Maintenance fees are only required for utility patents, and they’re due from the grant date (not the filing date). Here are the three deadlines:

• 3.5 years after grant (First payment)
• 7.5 years after grant (Second payment)
• 11.5 years after grant (Final payment)

You don’t have to pay anything before the 3.5-year mark, but if you miss any of these deadlines, your patent will be at risk.

⏰ Missed a Deadline? Here Are Your Options

✅ Still within 6 months of the deadline?

You’re in luck! The USPTO gives a 6-month grace period after each deadline. You can still pay the maintenance fee, but you’ll need to include a late payment surcharge.

• For example, the surcharge for a small entity is about $250 (this can change, so check the current USPTO fee schedule).

❌ More than 6 months late?

If your patent has already expired because the 6-month window closed, you may still be able to revive it by filing a petition.

• You’ll need to prove that the entire delay was unintentional.
• You must also pay a petition fee in addition to the maintenance fee:
  • $2,100 for large entities
  • $840 for small entities

This petition must usually be filed within 2 years of the missed deadline.

🚨 More than 2 years late?

It gets tougher. You’ll need to provide detailed explanations to the USPTO about:

• Why the maintenance fee wasn’t paid on time
• When and how you discovered the patent had expired
• Why you didn’t file the petition right after discovering it

At this stage, revival is not guaranteed—especially if the delay was due to financial hesitation or lack of interest at the time.

❗ What Doesn’t Count as an “Unintentional” Delay?

Some reasons just don’t fly with the USPTO. For example:

• You didn’t think the claims were strong enough
• You wanted to delay spending money
• You didn’t think the patent was worth keeping

Once a patent expires for these reasons, a later change of heart usually won’t be enough to bring it back.

🎨 Do Design Patents Require Maintenance?

Nope! Design patents don’t need maintenance fees at all. They automatically last 15 years from the grant date—no renewals or payments required.