On August 13, 2026, the USPTO tightened the rules for reviving abandoned patent applications and related petitions based on unintentional delay. Applicants must act within a year to avoid increased fees and strict evidentiary requirements.

By way of background, a patent application can go abandoned when a required response period (such as a reply to an Office Action or payment of an issue fee) expires without action by the applicant. Like many items at the USPTO, an abandoned patent application can be revived through the payment of a fee, the filing of a petition, and the filing of the missed reply or action item. In general, an applicant may petition to revive an application by showing that the entire delay was unintentional.

What Revival Used to Require

Before the recent changes, the USPTO generally relied on a signed statement from the applicant that the delay was unintentional. And previously, a delay greater than two years required the applicant to pay a higher petition fee and to provide additional information about the timeline between abandonment and petition to prove that the delay was unintentional. Petitions filed within two years generally did not require any additional submissions or explanation.

What Is Required Now

1. Shortened Evidentiary Threshold: For new petitions filed on or after August 13, 2026, the two-year threshold has been shortened to one year. That is, petitions to revive filed more than one year after the relevant deadline require that the applicant provide additional information and supporting evidence to establish that the entire delay was unintentional.
2. Higher fee after one year. Increased fees now apply if a petition is filed after one year, not two.
3. Applies to new petitions. The rule applies to petitions filed on or after August 13, 2026, even if the underlying abandonment, expiration, or missed deadline occurred years earlier.

Practical Tips

• Act immediately upon discovering an abandonment. Any delay once an abandonment is discovered can be detrimental to the outcome of a petition decision.
• A petition to revive cannot be used to reverse an applicant’s deliberate decision to let an application or patent lapse. In other words, a change of mind is not unintentional delay. Applicants should carefully make decisions when abandoning applications. This includes documenting decisions along with the reason and date.
• Respond promptly to docketing reminders, communicate decisions with your attorney, and immediately forward any missed communication from the USPTO to your attorney.
• Carefully review applications, patents, and dockets when transfers of ownership or attorney representation occur.

If you have questions about a missed deadline, an accidentally abandoned patent or application, a petition to revive, or broader patent portfolio strategy, Tucker Ellis has you covered! Contact us for more information.