USPTO New Patent Rules: Foreign Applicants Must Be Represented by Patent Practitioners

Release Time：2026-04-01 10:02Author：Views：72

Recently, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has officially released the revised 2026 Patent Practice Rules, which will take effect on July 20, 2026, further improving the patent application process and providing clear guidelines for all applicants.

The specific revised contents are as follows:

Clarify the Definition of "Domicile"

The term "domicile" as used herein refers to the permanent legal place of residence of a natural person or the principal place of business of a juristic entity. It provides a clear basis for the identification of applicants and patent owners, effectively avoiding disputes arising from ambiguous standards.

Standardize Patent Agency Requirements

Applicants or patent owners may handle patent-related matters on their own or entrust patent practitioners or joint inventors to act on their behalf. However, the following entities must be represented by patent practitioners:

Juristic entities;

Applicants as defined in §1.42 (including any inventor, joint inventor, legal representative, transferee of patent rights, and other entities with sufficient proprietary interest in the patent matter who are designated as applicants), where the domicile of at least one party is not located within the United States or its territories;

Patent owners where the domicile of at least one party is not located within the United States or its territories.

Define the Scope of Qualifications for Patent Practitioners

Only officially registered patent practitioners and individuals who have obtained limited practice recognition are permitted to represent others in handling patent-related matters. Among them, attorneys or agents registered under §11.6(d) may only undertake design patent-related businesses. For specific provisions, please refer to the following official link: https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/consolidated_rules.pdf

Standardize Document Signing Compliance

Unless otherwise specified, all documents submitted on behalf of juristic entities, applicants as defined in §1.42 (with at least one party's domicile outside the United States or its territories), and patent owners (with at least one party's domicile outside the United States or its territories) must be signed by patent practitioners.

Source：https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-03-20/pdf/2026-05564.pdf

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