Petitions FAQs

No. Where the differences of opinion between an examiner and applicant concern the denial of patent claims because of prior art or other patentability issues, the questions thereby raised are said to relate to the merits, and appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board) is the appropriate procedure. All other issues are petitionable.

Ordinarily, an objection is petitionable, and a rejection is appealable. However,  when the objection is "determinative of the rejection" the matter may be addressed by the PTAB. The Board will not ordinarily hear a question that should be decided by the Director on petition, and the Director will not ordinarily entertain a petition where the question presented is a matter appealable to the Board. See MPEP § 1201 for additional information. 

See Where to file petitions, requests, and related inquiries. 

No. Petitions are decided in accordance with the delegation of authority as indicated in MPEP § 1002. The Patents Petitions Timeline provides applicants access to petitions that can be submitted during each stage of patent prosecution process and information related to each specific petition and deciding office. 

Petitions received by the USPTO are given a document description or document code that routes the paper to the appropriate deciding office. It is important to use available forms or an appropriate header that clearly identifies the type of petition being filed (e.g., Petition under 37 CFR 1.181 to withdraw a holding of abandonment) to help minimize processing delays.

When filing a petition electronically via the patents electronic filing systems, the filer is responsible for choosing the appropriate document description. A list of available document descriptions is available online. 

The delegation of authority to decide petitions is outlined in MPEP § 1002. The Patents Petitions Timeline also provides information on deciding offices for various petitions at each stage of prosecution. You may refer to these resources if you are unsure of the appropriate deciding office for your petition.

The most common document description for petitions handled by the Office of Petitions is “Petition for review by the Office of Petitions” (PET.OP). 

Describing petitions as letters or miscellaneous documents will likely result in processing delays.

An ePetition is an electronically filed petition, submitted via the patents electronic filing system that automates the petition process and allows petitioners to directly input the requisite information into a secure Web interface and immediately receive an ePetition decision if all requirements are met. Not all petitions are available as e-Petitions.

For more information about ePetitions, including available types, please see the ePetition Resource page 

The Patents Petitions Timeline provides information on both the historical grant rates and the pendency of decided petitions. If your petition has been pending with the Office of Petitions for substantially longer than the historical median pendency, registered patents electronic filing system users may wish to verify the status of the petition online. If the petition does not appear under the petitions tab in the electronic filing system, or if you are an unregistered user, call the Office of Petitions Help Desk at 571-272-3282 in order to verify the status of the petition.

Except for a petition filed under 37 CFR 41.40 to designate a new ground of rejection in an examiner’s answer, the mere filing of a petition will not stay any period for reply that may be running against the application, nor act as a stay of other proceedings. See 37 CFR 1.181(f). 

Generally, a request for reconsideration of the dismissal may be submitted within two months from the mail date of the decision and extensions of time under 37 CFR 1.136(a) may be permitted, unless otherwise specified in the decision. The reconsideration request should include a cover letter entitled ”Renewed Petition” and should include the CFR section the petition was filed under. For example, a request for reconsideration of a decision dismissing a petition to revive an abandoned application filed under 37 CFR 1.137(a) should be entitled “Renewed Petition under 37 CFR 1.137(a)”. The request should state reason(s) why the dismissal was improper and/or explain how any deficiencies noted in the dismissal have been corrected.

A petition requesting supervisory review of a request for reconsideration that was dismissed may be submitted under 37 CFR 1.181(a)(1).

Certain petitions may be filed as an ePetition. Petitions filed as ePetitions are automatically processed and granted immediately. For more information about ePetitions, please see the ePetition Resource Page.

Alternatively, the Office of Petitions may take into consideration a petition to expedite, filed under 37 CFR 1.182 requesting that consideration of an initial petition, filed prior to or simultaneously with the petition to expedite, be expedited. A petition to expedite will not be considered for a petition requesting supervisory review or a petition requesting reconsideration of a petition decision. For the proper petition fee required for a petition requesting that a petition be expedited, please consult the current USPTO Fee Schedule for code 1462/2462/3462 (Undiscounted Entity/Small Entity/Micro Entity) under the Patent Petition Fees.

37 CFR 1.378(b) permits the Director of the USPTO to accept a late payment of any maintenance fee due on a patent if, upon petition, the delay in payment of the maintenance fee is shown to the satisfaction of the Director to have been unintentional. See the detailed information regarding acceptable of delayed payment of a maintenance fee after expiration of the patent based on unintentional delay for more information regarding petitions under 37 CFR 1.378(b). Note that some petitions under 37 CFR 1.378(b) may be submitted as an ePetition and receive an immediate grant.  

MPEP § 711.03(c) provides detailed information on petitions relating to abandonment.  

If you contend that the application is not in fact abandoned (e.g., there is disagreement as to the sufficiency of the reply, or as to controlling dates), a petition under 37 CFR 1.181(a) requesting withdrawal of the holding of abandonment is the appropriate course of action, and such petition does not require a fee. A petition under 37 CFR 1.181(a) requesting withdrawal of the holding of abandonment may be filed based on evidence that the Office communication was never received or based on evidence that a reply was timely filed. Any petition under 37 CFR 1.181 not filed within two months of the mailing date of the action or notice from which relief is requested (e.g., a notice of abandonment) may be dismissed as untimely.

However, where there is no dispute as to whether an application is abandoned (e.g., the applicant’s contentions merely involve the cause of abandonment), a petition under 37 CFR 1.137 (accompanied by the appropriate petition fee) is necessary to revive the abandoned application. For example, to revive an application that has become abandoned due to a failure to reply to an Office action, a petition under 37 CFR 1.137 based on unintentional delay is available.