In 2026, there are three payment deadlines for U.S. patent maintenance fees: 3.5 years, 7.5 years, and 11.5 years. Missing a payment means abandoning the patent rights—who should be responsible for keeping track of payment reminders?

If a U.S. patent maintenance fee is missed, the patent will lapse outright; it is not just a matter of paying a fine. The legal duty to monitor payment rests with the patent owner. The USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) only sends reminders to the address of record, and neither loss in the mail nor failure to receive the reminder can be used as an excuse. In practice, we generally recommend putting the payment deadlines on an internal calendar and designating a foreign agent to provide dual reminders, rather than relying only on that letter from the USPTO.

三个节点不是”第3.5年”那天，而是以授权公告日算的窗口期

美国发明专利（utility patent）的维持费只缴三次，分别在授权后第3.5年、7.5年、11.5年。这里的”年”从专利授权公告日（issue date）起算，不是从申请日起算，很多客户第一次遇到会按申请日去推，结果整体算错一年。窗口期也不是一天，而是一段可缴区间：最早可在到期日前6个月缴，最晚可在到期日后6个月缴，但后者属于宽限期（grace period），要额外加收附加费（surcharge）。以2026年现行收费标准为例，大实体第3.5年维持费为2,000美元，宽限期附加费另加约150美元；小实体减半，微实体再减至四分之一。别小看这笔附加费，真正贵的是错过宽限期后的后果。

Legal consequences of failure to pay: the patent right lapses as of the original due date and cannot be remedied retroactively.

依据35 U.S.C. §41(b)与§41(c)，维持费未在宽限期内缴清，专利权自原缴费到期日起即视为失效（expire）。注意这个”自……起”——不是从宽限期结束那天起算，而是回溯到窗口期最后一天。这意味着你在漏缴后到发现前这段期间，专利在法律上已经不存在，第三方实施不构成侵权。想恢复，只能走37 C.F.R. §1.378的”非故意放弃”（unintentional delay）请求，需提交声明并缴纳恢复费，且只在失效后一定期限内可被USPTO接受。实务中我们一般会建议：一旦发现漏缴，第一时间做恢复请求，不要先去和对方谈侵权，因为失效期间的行为很难追。

The USPTO will send a reminder, but non-delivery is not its responsibility.

USPTO确实会在每个缴费窗口前向专利权人登记地址寄提醒函，也会通过Patent Center的电子系统发通知。但联邦法规明确，缴费义务由专利权人承担，USPTO的提醒属于”善意提醒”（courtesy reminder），不是法定义务。地址变更、代理机构更换、邮箱失效，都会让提醒落空。我们经手过的咨询里，最常见的一类就是企业换了美国代理所，旧代理没做转出登记，新代理也没接手缴费监控，两边都以为对方在管，结果7.5年这一档静悄悄过期。所以别把提醒当成保险，它只是辅助。

Who should keep watch? The patentee, foreign agents, and the in-house IP role—all three are indispensable.

There is only one legally responsible party: the patent holder. At the execution level, however, responsibilities are usually split into three layers. The first layer is the patent holder itself, responsible for confirming the status of each case in the patent portfolio and the fee budget. The second layer is the overseas agent, responsible for sending formal reminders 60 to 90 days before the payment window and verifying the entity type (large/small/micro entity, which directly affects the amount). The third layer is the enterprise’s internal IP role or an external IP management platform, responsible for maintaining the ledger. If any of these three layers breaks down, the risk falls on the patent holder. Cross-border sellers should pay particular attention: if a U.S. patent is held through an applicant entity company, any change, deregistration, or acquisition of the corporate entity will affect who has the authority to pay fees and receive notices. Such structural issues must be clarified before payment and can be handled together with reference to the approach to overseas IP layout.

An error in the entity type means the payment was not made correctly, and it may still be invalid.

The amount of U.S. patent maintenance fees is divided into three tiers based on entity type: large entity, small entity (usually an enterprise or nonprofit organization with fewer than 500 employees), and micro entity (with stricter conditions). Small entity and micro entity status is not obtained automatically; it must be claimed at the time of payment and the conditions must be met. If the eligibility is no longer satisfied (for example, the enterprise has grown in size or the patent has been assigned to a large company) but payments continue to be made at the small entity rate, the USPTO has the right to require payment of the difference, and in serious cases this may affect patent validity. In practice, we generally recommend: reconfirm entity status before each payment, especially for patents that have undergone assignment, financing, or mergers and acquisitions. Such compliance actions are usually done together with routine trademark and patent maintenance, and can be combined withU.S. and EU Intellectual Property Legal Servicesto proceed according to the overall arrangements.

专利一旦失效，还能不能”续命”？恢复请求的边界

恢复不是无条件的。37 C.F.R. §1.378要求申请人声明整个延迟是”非故意”的，USPTO对”非故意”标准相对宽松，但前提是延迟原因确实出于疏忽而非明知不缴。如果已经过了恢复请求的受理期限，专利权就彻底无法挽救，只能重新申请，而重新申请要面对现有技术、公开日、优先权等一系列新问题，成本远高于当初那笔维持费。所以恢复是补救，不是常规操作。真正稳妥的做法还是把缴费节点前置管理。

2026 Practical Recommendations: Put Milestones in the Calendar and Assign Responsibility to Individuals.

具体怎么做？第一，拿到授权公告日后，立刻把3.5年、7.5年、11.5年三个日期换算成自己的日历提醒，并标注”提前6个月可缴、到期后6个月宽限”。第二，指定一名内部负责人和一家境外代理机构，双方各自设提醒，交叉核对。第三，缴费前确认实体资格和登记地址是否最新。第四，如果专利组合覆盖多个国家，别只盯美国，欧洲、日本、韩国等地的年费规则各不相同，可以统一交给能跨法域协调的团队处理，参考其它国家知识产权法律服务了解衔接方式。美国专利维持费金额不算大，但它对应的专利权价值可能很高，用一个小流程守住它，性价比极高。

The foreign-related intellectual property team at Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm has long handled trademark, patent, and copyright matters in the United States, the European Union, and major jurisdictions. If you have any questions about the deadlines for paying U.S. patent maintenance fees, entity status determinations, or restoration after missed payments, please feel free to call our hotline at 4008-363-555 for consultation.

Disclaimer: This article is compiled based on publicly available U.S. patent laws and regulations and USPTO fee rules as of 2026 and is provided for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice for any specific case. U.S. patent maintenance fee amounts, grace period rules, and standards for requests for restoration may change with regulatory adjustments. For specific cases, please rely on the latest USPTO announcements and formal legal advice.