What happens if my patent application is granted?

Once an examiner at the PTO decides to grant a patent, a Notice of Allowance and Issue Fee is mailed to the inventor. This notice notifies the inventor that his patent application has been accepted and informs the inventor what additional fees are owed - the inventor has three months from the mailing date to submit the required fees. After it mails this notice, the PTO prepares an electronic version of the inventor’s patent and gets ready to issue the patent. The PTO then mails an Issue Notification to the inventor, and follows this by mailing the patent grant to the inventor. This patent grant, which is bound and includes a gold seal and red ribbon on its cover, includes information about the patent including any related prior patents, an identification of the patent, and the patent’s specification and claims.

Once the patent is granted, the inventor may mark his invention as being patented by placing something like “covered by U.S. Patent Number XXX” on the product.

Posted in: FAQ-PATENTS