Fees, entity status, papers and deadlines

Most exam errors here are date errors: compute periods from the mailing date, add any purchased extension, then move a weekend or federal holiday end date to the next business day. Separately, know how papers are dated and how entity status works.

Filing, fees, benefit and priority2 min read4 sections

Must-know for the exam

Statutory maximum for a reply: six months (35 U.S.C. 133)
1.136(a) extensions: up to five months, never beyond the statutory period; can be bought with the reply (MPEP 710.02(e))
Not extendable under 1.136(a): reply briefs, oral hearing requests, replies to Board decisions, contested cases
Oath, formal drawings and deposit periods set in a Notice of Allowability are not extendable (37 CFR 1.136(c))
Deadlines on a Saturday, Sunday or D.C. federal holiday move to the next business day (35 U.S.C. 21(b); 37 CFR 1.7)
A monthly period ending on a day that does not exist ends on the last day of that month (MPEP 710.01(a))
1.8 certificates make replies timely but cannot be used to file new applications (37 CFR 1.8(a)(2))
Priority Mail Express under 1.10 gives the deposit date, even for new applications
Patent Center filings take the Eastern Time receipt date, any day of the week (37 CFR 1.6(a)(4))
Small entity: 500 or fewer employees including affiliates, no rights to a large entity (37 CFR 1.27)
Micro entity (income basis): small entity, at most four previous applications, income limit, no license to a higher-income entity (37 CFR 1.29(a))
Good-faith small entity errors are excused by paying an itemized deficiency (37 CFR 1.28(c))
A change of purpose is not a mistake for refund purposes (37 CFR 1.26(a))

On this page · 4 sections

Traps that cost marks

Forgetting to apply the weekend rule after adding the extension.
Confusing the five-month maximum extension with the six-month statutory period.
Thinking the certificate changes the paper's official receipt date.
Relying on a certificate of mailing to save a priority deadline.
Treating Priority Mail Express like first-class mail.
Assuming a late-evening Pacific submission keeps that day's date.
Counting only patents, or forgetting the four-application limit.
Ignoring the error because it was made in good faith.

Counting a deadline

•Start from the mailing date of the action.
•Add the period (months end on the same day number, or the month's last day).
•Add any 1.136(a) extension bought.
•If the end falls on a weekend or federal holiday, move to the next business day.
•Never go past six months from the action.

Where to look

When a question turns on a detail you are unsure of, search these sources on the exam computer:

•MPEP 502-513, 509.02-509.04, 607.02, 710-711 (9th ed., Rev. 01.2024)
•35 U.S.C. 21, 123, 133
•37 CFR 1.4-1.10, 1.26-1.29, 1.136

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