Required Use by Foreign Applicants and Patent Owners of a Patent Practitioner

What it does

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is amending the Rules of Practice in Patent Cases to require patent applicants and patent owners whose domicile is not located within the United States (U.S.) or its territories (hereinafter foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners) to be represented by a registered patent practitioner. A requirement that foreign applicants/ inventors and patent owners be represented by a registered patent practitioner will bring the U.S. in line with most other countries that require that such parties be represented by a licensed or registered person of that country. Additionally, this requirement will increase efficiency and enable the USPTO to more effectively use available mechanisms to enforce compliance by all foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners with U.S. statutory and regulatory requirements in patent matters, and enhance the USPTO's ability to respond to false certifications, misrepresentations, and fraud.

The Patent and Trademark Office's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

1 part of Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

37 CFR 1

Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).

Compared with

The Patent and Trademark Office has published 4 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 5 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

Before this

1 earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 0651-AD85 since Jan. 1, 2025.

• Dec. 29, 2025 Notice of proposed rulemaking. Required Use by Foreign Applicants and Patent Owners of a Patent Practitioner

What happens next and when

This rule is effective on July 20, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket PTO-P-2025-0008 on Regulations.gov
• Title 37 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register