Once the patent is granted, it is outside the jurisdiction of the Patent
and Trademark Office except in a few respects. The Office may issue
without charge a certificate correcting a clerical error it has made in
the patent when the printed patent does not correspond to the record in
the Office. These are mostly corrections of typographical errors made in
printing. Some minor errors of a typographical nature made by the
applicant may be corrected by a certificate of correction for which a
fee is required. The patentee may disclaim one or more claims of his/her
patent by filing in the Office a disclaimer as provided by the statute.
When the patent is defective in certain respects, the law provides that
the patentee may apply for a reissue patent. This is a patent granted to
replace the original and is granted only for the balance of the
unexpired term. However, the nature of the changes that can be made by
means of the reissue are rather limited; new matter cannot be added.
Any person may file a request for reexamination of a patent, along with
the required fee, on the basis of prior art consisting of patents or
printed publications. At the conclusion of the reexamination
proceedings, a certificate setting forth the results of the
reexamination proceeding is issued.