Washington, D.C., April 27 - The USPTO has released a Guidance document on relief measures for the Patent/Trademark applicants and Patent/Trademark owners affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
According to the guidance, the USPTO will waive the petition fee:
for patent applicants or patent owners who were unable to timely reply to an Office communication due to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak, resulting in the application being held abandoned or the reexamination prosecution terminated & limited.
for trademark applications and registration that were abandoned or cancelled/expired due to the inability to timely respond to a trademark-related Office communication as a result of the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The persons who qualify for the fee waiver under the Guidance must file their petitions no later than two months of the issue date of the respective abandonement/cancellation/ expiration notice. Along with using specific forms, all petitions must include a statement explaining how the failure to respond to the Office's communication was due to the COVID-19 outbreak.