(1) Failing to pay the annual fee as required;
(2) The patentee waives the patent right in writing;
(3) When the patent right expires, the patent right will be terminated.
If the annual patent fee has not been paid or the annual patent fee and late payment fee have been paid in full, a notice of patent termination shall be issued within two months from the date of expiration of the annual patent fee, which shall not be earlier than 1 month, and the patentee shall be notified. Where the patentee fails to start the recovery procedure or the recovery is not approved, it shall register and announce it in the patent register and patent announcement respectively four months after the termination notice is issued. After that, the patent application file is stored in the invalid file database. The expiration date of the patent right is the expiration date of the previous year.
Application for restoration of rights after termination of patent right:
Generally speaking, when the Patent Office issues a notice of termination, it will give the patentee a reasonable period (2 months) to file an application for restoring rights. If the patentee fails to apply within the time limit, the patent right will eventually be lost; However, the patentee fails to implement it due to force majeure or other legitimate reasons. Needless to say, force majeure is because the patentee has exhausted all possible means and still cannot apply on time. In this case, Joe can apply by mail, so his claim is not established.