Following the declaration of a national emergency on March 13, 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the director of the USPTO determined that the emergency created an extraordinary situation and prejudiced the rights of patent applicants preventing filling of documents or fees with the Office. Under the CARES Act, the USPTO is relaxing the period for petitioning for certain priority rights and waiving the associated fee.
Usually, an applicant seeking priority from a prior-filed foreign or provisional application must file a non-provisional application within 12 months of the filing of the prior application (or 6 months in the case of a design application claiming foreign priority). Patent laws permit an applicant to file an application and to petition for restoration of a priority claim within two month beyond the twelve month period (or six month period) if the delay was unintentional.
By this relief, the USPTO (1) will extend the time for filing certain non-provisional applications with a petition to restore priority and waive the petition fee, and (2) will waive the petition fee to restore the right of priority for certain international applications.
The detailed information about the “Relief Relating to Restoring the Right of Priority or benefit” can be found at:
Please contact us if you are interested in more information.
