One of our clients contacted us about correspondence they received that included a “notice of the expiration date of the US patent maintenance fee.” The correspondence was sent directly to the applicant’s address and contained detailed patent information. At a glance, the notice appears to be an official communication from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

However, formal notices issued by the USPTO will only be sent to designated US agents or addresses registered as Fee Addresses. In other words, in principle, this type of formal notice is not typically sent directly to the applicant.

In addition, the USPTO will only issue a “Maintenance Fee Reminder” notice after the patent fee deadline has expired.
That is, no notice will be issued before the deadline.

The patent fee expiration notice sent directly to the applicant’s address is very likely to be a fraudulent notice, so if you receive a similar notice, do not respond to it and discard it.

Please feel free to contact ONDA TECHNO Intl. Patent Attys. whenever you receive patent or trademark documents that you may have questions about.