In a May 9, 2000 Notice, the United States Patent & Trademark Office announced that the previously-announced goal of issuing patents within 4 weeks after payment of the issue fee has been revised due to budgetary constraints. The new goal is to issue patents within 12 weeks after payment of the issue fee.
Although this new goal provides more time for applicants to file papers which need to be filed after allowance of an application but before patent issuance, we continue to advise that such papers be filed as soon as possible after allowance.
For example, a Continuation or Divisional application must be filed before issuance of the patent, and it is therefore advisable to file a Continuation or Divisional application prior to or along with payment of the issue fee.
Also, in order to best ensure that Amendments after allowance (under 37 CFR 1.312) are considered and entered into the application, they should be filed as soon as possible after allowance of the application.
