Reviving expired patents with unpaid maintenance fees

http://www.patentofficelawsuit.info/ - losing patents by failing to pay overdue maintenance fees
- If you feel strongly enough about the loss of your patent to bring a lawsuit, I want you and your lawyer to have the benefit of the exhibits that I amassed for my lawsuit. If enough inventors harass them with lawsuits, maybe they will rethink the concept of maintenance fees. And maybe, along the way, you can get your patent reinstated. As long as you don't hold me personally responsible, you are welcome to use any exhibits on this website.
- the overdue fine had to be accompanied by an explanation of why the fees were overdue. The statement was to be judged against an almost impossible standard. It is referred to as the Unavoidable Standard in that one must fully document why the fee was not paid on time. The Unadvoidable Standard assumes that the payment of the Maintenance Fees takes absolute precedence over all other obligations - even paying for a life-saving operation.
- There is debate in legal circles that the Unavoidable Standard is not what Congress intended, but rather one that the Patent Office has implemented through arbitrary and irresponsible practice. A very enlightening Commentary about this can be found in The Journal of Law and Technology.
- The maintenance fees can not be paid ahead of time. Most often failure is on the part of the attorney to issue a timely reminder.
- Inventors most often became aware of their patent's having expired when they attempted to sell them to others. And when they tried to rectify the situation by paying the overdue fine, they found that they could not meet the Unavoidable Standard. Consequently, hundreds upon hundreds of patents have expired because inventors, once aware of problem, have sought to pay the money due, but could not meet the Unavoidable Standard.