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What Is a Notice of Allowance Patent?

posted on Sep 11, 2013 01:49PM

What Is a Notice of Allowance Patent?

A notice of allowance is issued by the United States Patent & Trademark Office to indicate that it believes an invention qualifies for a patent. However, the person originally filing for the patent is not fully protected until he completes the rest of the patent process and pays the appropriate fees. An invention is still considered "patent pending" until the final patent has been issued.

Parts of a Notice of Allowance

The notice of allowance includes three main sections. First is the header, which identifies the patent case number, the inventor and the invention. Second is section B, which identifies the fees due to the government to complete the patent process. This section is to be completed and returned to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office within a specified time frame. Third are a series of notes that, based on the filing date of the patent, indicate what the due date is for the fees and any other requested paperwork.

Terms of the Notice of Allowance

The notice of allowance allows the inventor to finalize her patent, but the final paperwork must be provided to the Patent Office within the date specified on the notice of allowance, along with all applicable fees. The amount of fees will vary depending on the type of patent she is seeking and whether there are any clarifications that need to be made to the original patent application paperwork.

Next Steps

When a notice of allowance is issued, any drawings that are required to be submitted with the final application will be requested. The patent application filer then must supply the fees, final application and applicable drawings within the specified window of time. A patent examiner will review the application, issue the patent and publish notification of the patent on the USPTO website. If the patent is a utility patent, which is the most common type of patent issues, maintenance fees will also need to be paid over the life of the patent at intervals of 3 1/2, 7 1/2 and 11 1/2 years after the patent's issue.

Considerations

The final application timeline given on the notice of allowance is not extendable; all paperwork and fees must be received by the specified deadline or the patent will be lost.
It is rare to receive a notice of allowance following the initial patent application. Typically, several revisions are requested between the initial application and the notice of allowance issuance.
The entire patent process can take two or more years from initial application to final patent issuance. The notice of allowance is issued near the end of the process.