This article is a management manual summarizing the practice of maintaining rights in US design patents. Because the US design patent system has no post-grant maintenance fee payments, the management focus is not on "annuity payment" but on "fixing the expiration date." It explains, in order, what to fill in and what not to look at in your docket.
1. At a Glance
- System type
- No payments (grant date + 15 years, fixed) 0 post-grant payment events
- Anchor date
- Grant date
- Deadline calculation method
- Anniversary
- Term
- Grant date + 15 years (14 years for applications filed before 2015-05-13)
- Payment start
- No maintenance fees (35 U.S.C. 41(b)(3)) Manage the expiration date only
- Payment deadline
- —
- Grace period / surcharge
- —
- Restoration system
- None
- Reductions
- None
- Management difficulty
- Low However, determining which of the two term regimes applies is essential
It is expressly provided that US design patents have no maintenance fee payment events (35 U.S.C. 41(b)(3), 37 CFR 1.362(b)). Reissues are also exempt from maintenance fees where the original patent was a design patent. Accordingly, all your management system needs is a single expiration date field.
2. Anchor Date and Deadline Calculation
The anchor date for a US design patent is the grant date. The expiration date of the term is calculated on an anniversary basis from the grant date. No separate adjustment rules such as end-of-month adjustment apply.
The term splits into two depending on the filing date. Applications filed on or after 2015-05-13 have a term of grant date + 15 years; those filed before that date have grant date + 14 years. In other words, to fix the expiration date you need both the grant date and the filing date.
- Check the filing date and determine whether it falls before or after the 2015-05-13 cutoff.
- Apply a 15-year term for applications filed on or after 2015-05-13, and a 14-year term for earlier applications.
- Record as the expiration date the anniversary obtained by adding the applicable number of years to the grant date.
3. Payment Start
The very concept of a "first payable year" does not exist, because there is no point in time at which maintenance fees are paid after grant.
- There are no maintenance fee payment points such as year 1 or year 3.5.
- There are no maintenance fees payable while the application is pending either.
- Even if grant is delayed, no retroactive lump-sum payment arises.
The practical conclusion is simple. For US design cases, do not create payment tasks; operate expiration alerts only.
4. Grace Period and Surcharge
Since there is no payment deadline, there is no grace period or surcharge either. There is no room for any surcharge formula to apply.
| Item | US design patent |
|---|---|
| Payment deadline | — |
| Grace period | — |
| Surcharge formula | — |
5. Lapse and Restoration
With US design patents, lapse due to non-payment of maintenance fees simply does not occur. As a result, there is no restoration system either.
6. Reductions
There are no reductions at the maintenance stage. The US entity discounts apply at the filing stage, and since there is no payment at all at the post-grant maintenance stage, no entity-status determination or improper-claim risk arises.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Reduction at maintenance stage | None |
| Timing of eligibility determination | Not applicable |
| Improper-claim risk | Not applicable (no payment at the maintenance stage) |
7. Advance Payment and Lump-Sum Payment
Since there are no maintenance fees to pay, the concepts of advance payment and multi-year lump-sum payment do not exist either. The procedure ends with payment of the issue fee, and no further payment management is needed until the term expires.
US designation via the Hague system
The treatment is the same where the US is designated via the Hague system. Payment of the second part of the individual designation fee at registration covers the full 15 years, and the US right is maintained regardless of whether the international registration (IR) is renewed (37 CFR 1.1031(e)). There is no renewal individual designation fee for the US designation.
8. Official Fees
There are no official fees payable at the maintenance stage. Since there are no items to list in a fee table at all, manage them as "none" as shown below.
| Category | Amount | Effective date |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance fee (post-grant) | None (0 payment events) | — |
| Surcharge | None | — |
| Restoration fee | None (no restoration system) | — |
Fees at the filing and grant stages are not included in the scope of this manual (maintenance management). Please confirm those fees separately at the time of actual payment.
9. Management Checklist
9-1. Fields that must be filled in the docket
- Grant date — the anchor date. If this date is blank, the entire expiration date calculation cannot be established.
- Filing date — used to determine the 2015-05-13 cutoff. If blank, you cannot tell 15 years from 14 years.
- Term category — record for each case whether 15 years (new law) or 14 years (former law) was applied.
- Expiration date — the anniversary of the grant date plus the applicable number of years.
- Route of acquisition — distinguish between a direct national registration and a US designation via the Hague system.
9-2. Cycle operation sequence
- When taking in a newly granted case, enter the filing date and grant date and determine the cutoff.
- Assign a term of 15 years or 14 years according to the determination.
- Calculate and record the expiration date, and do not create a payment task.
- Set only an advance expiration alert to secure time for portfolio decisions (follow-on filings, product line consolidation, etc.).
- Manage Hague-route cases separately from the IR renewal schedule, and flag them so that a missed IR renewal is not mistakenly assumed to affect the US right.
- Close out cases reaching the expiration date as expired. Since there is no restoration procedure, do not set up any post-expiry response stage.
9-3. Common errors
| Error | Consequence | Prevention |
|---|---|---|
| Applying another country's annuity model to the US | A non-existent payment deadline is generated | Set US designs to 0 payment events |
| Applying 15 years across the board with the filing date not entered | The expiration date of a former-law case is set one year too late | Separate cases with a blank filing date as calculation on hold |
| Budgeting renewal fees for a US designation under the Hague system | Unnecessary costs and scheduled procedures | Mark the US designation as having no renewal individual designation fee |
| Holding a case nearing expiry as a restoration candidate | Missing the point for action | Fix a note on the case stating that there is no restoration system |
In iphere's overseas annuity and renewal management, US design patents are a type handled with expiration alerts rather than payment schedules. The management burden is low, but be sure to verify on a case-by-case basis that you have not missed the two-tier term determination, because there is no way to undo it.
Sources, cut-off date and disclaimer
This manual is based on iphere's August 2026 survey of country-by-country overseas maintenance rules, together with values produced by the deadline engine that runs on those same rules. Official fees and deadline rules change by office notice, so please confirm against the official source and your local agent before any actual payment or filing.