The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced it will waive petition fees in certain situations, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In an announcement shared on March 16, the office said that the effects of the coronavirus outbreak to be an “extraordinary situation” under the code of federal regulations.
The USPTO will waive revival petition fees for those whose patent applications were deemed abandoned or where reexamination proceedings were terminated or limited, where the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak meant that the applicants couldn’t reply in time.
“For trademark applications and registrations that were abandoned or cancelled/expired due to inability to timely respond to a trademark-related office communication as a result of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak, the USPTO will waive the petition fee (set by regulation, rather than statute) to revive the abandoned application or reinstate the cancelled/expired registration,” it added.
Source: World IP Review
