Missed US Patent and Trademark Deadlines because of COVID-19?

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The US Patent and Trademark Office further extended to June 1, 2020, the deadline for filing certain patent and trademark office documents, 2020, when that deadline would otherwise fall between (and inclusive of) March 27 and May 31, 2020.  The previous notice, issued on March 16, 2020, ran only until April 30th.

For both trademark deadlines and fees and patent deadlines and fees, the effective date of the extension permitted is now March 27, 2020 and ends May 31, 2020.

The request for an extension, however, must include a statement that the delay in filing or payment was due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Specifically, the requester must identify that a practitioner, applicant, registrant, or other person associated with the filing or fee was personally affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, for example, through office closures, cash flow interruptions, inaccessibility of files, or other materials, travel delays, personal or family illness, or similar circumstances, so that the outbreak materially interfered with timely filing or payment.

Current petition procedures for requesting extensions to revive an abandoned application or reinstate a cancelled/expired registration (pursuant to 37 CFR subsections 2.66 and 2.46) may be used for COVID-19 extension requests. However, for COVID-19 requests, the fees for the petitions are waived.

For Patents, the types of deadlines for which the relief is to be granted are found at:

https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Patents%20CARES%20Act.pdf

For Trademarks, the types of deadlines for which the relief is to be granted are found at:

https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/TM-Notice-CARES-Act.pdf

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