8
Two or three issues involved with this. A patent that expired due to non-payment of maintance fee can be revived by petition as either unintentional or unavoidable. Unintentional has a two-year limit and unavoidable is very hard to establish. Only the patent owner can file these, not just anyone who comes along. Even if revived there are intervening rights (...
2
Patents are territorial rights and for limited period of time(i.e. 20 years). subject query patent was filed in 1992 granted in 1994 and expired way back. Since your Mother assigned you patent in 1999 you could have paid fee till 2000. There is no point to revive the application which has passed its term.
2
In general, the owner would need to petition the USPTO to allow payment of the maintenance fee late on the grounds of "unavoidable" delay. An alternate reason, "unintentional" delay is easier but cannot be used after two years. In this specific case, the patent would have normally expired in 2012 anyway.
2
It is important to remember that a patent does not give anybody the right to do what the patent covers. For example, if I had a patent on a more effective delivery system for MDMA or LSD, having a patent doesn't change the fact that those drugs are considered Schedule 1 and illegal under almost every circumstance -- meaning that my delivery system couldn't ...
2
If you're sure that the patent has really expired, then the specific invention in the patent is no longer patent-protected, so the patent holder can't sue over it. However, make sure of this, because figuring out when a patent has really expired can be complicated.
Additionally, keep in mind that patents can overlap, which means that even if that one ...
1
No
Patents are applied for the benefit of the true inventor or the inventor's assignee. If you didn't invent it you can't patent it.
The expiration of the original patent has zero bearing on the patentablity of your improvements. If your improvements are novel and non-obvious considering every that has been previously, including the patent disclosure, you ...
1
Please see
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s2590.html
Your question has been posted on Nov 2016, the text below is posted in 2017; but depending on the time-lapse it might still be relevant
2590 Acceptance of Delayed Payment of Maintenance Fee in Expired Patent to Reinstate Patent [R-08.2017]
Of special relevance (from the URL given above): ...
1
If patent is lapsed due to non-payment of Maintenance fee one can revive it filing a Petition See Earlier answer Failure to pay maintenance fees
Now Such Petition is Hard to track As I see no option to find this information on PAIR. If a Petition is filed it is the matter between Patent office and applicant Ideally It should be made available via ...
1
Your Query contains Two Issues:-
1. Can Any person revive Patent after not paying Maintenance fees?
YES but in certain circumstances and not after 2 years.
For more information see Failure to pay maintenance fees
MPEP2590 Acceptance of Delayed Payment of Maintenance Fee in Expired Patent to Reinstate Patent
II. UNINTENTIONAL DELAY ...
1
No, the idea is not patentable anymore. Once any person anywhere publishes knowledge on how to create the invention (whether publishes it in a patent, online, in a novel, etc...), the idea can no longer be patented. Clerks at patent offices have to review many sources (generally patent offices in other countries, existing patent applications, engineering ...
1
Also how long are patent granted for 15 years or 20 years and is this from the date o publication or from the date of Granting of the patent.
Quoting the EPO's website:
"The maximum term of a European patent is 20 years from its filing date. The patent may lapse earlier if the annual renewal fees are not paid or if the patent is revoked by the patentee or ...
1
Yes, that is true, and it is very easy to get this information using google/patents. If that patent number is entered at google/patents and you look at the very bottom of the page you will see:
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