The 2026 US Patent Counsel Requirement for Foreign Applicants

What changed on 20 July 2026

On 20 July 2026 the USPTO began requiring foreign-domiciled patent applicants and patent owners to be represented by a registered US patent practitioner in matters before the Office. The change was published in the Federal Register in March 2026 and took effect four months later.

If that sounds familiar, it should. The USPTO has required foreign-domiciled trademark applicants to use a US-licensed attorney since August 2019, for much the same reasons: a rising volume of filings from abroad that were inaccurate, unauthorised, or made by people the Office had no way to hold accountable. The patent side has now followed.

It is a genuinely new rule, which has a practical consequence: a lot of the advice online predates it. If you are reading guidance that says a foreign inventor can file a US patent application pro se, check when it was written. That was true until July 2026.

Who the rule binds

The test is domicile, and it works the way it does on the trademark side. An individual is foreign-domiciled if their permanent legal residence is outside the United States. An entity is foreign-domiciled if its principal place of business — the headquarters from which the business is actually directed — is outside the United States.

The same two traps apply. Incorporating in the United States does not change where your business is run. And a US mailing address, a virtual office or a registered agent is not a domicile.

The requirement reaches applicants and owners alike, which means it is not only about new filings. If you already hold a US patent and you are foreign-domiciled, matters before the Office concerning that patent fall within the rule too.

Why this is not the same as the trademark rule

This is the distinction that matters most, and it is the one most often blurred.

The trademark rule asks for a US-licensed attorney — any attorney licensed in any US state, in good standing. It does not require an IP specialisation or any additional registration.

The patent rule asks for a registered patent practitioner — someone entered on the USPTO’s register, which requires a qualifying scientific or technical background and a separate examination. A general law licence does not reach it. Most attorneys in the United States, including most excellent ones, are not registered to practise before the USPTO in patent matters.

So the two rules are not interchangeable, and an attorney who can lawfully handle your trademark may not lawfully handle your patent. If a firm offers you both without ever mentioning that distinction, ask them directly which of their people is on the patent register.

We say it plainly on our own behalf: Sherrod Seward is a US-licensed attorney and acts as attorney of record on trademark matters. Patent prosecution is handled by a registered US patent practitioner we work with directly. Full detail on which of the two you actually need is on the patent-or-trademark page.

What a registered patent practitioner actually is

The USPTO register contains two kinds of people, and the difference is worth knowing because it affects what they can do for you beyond the Patent Office.

• Patent attorneys are licensed to practise law in a US state and registered with the USPTO. They can prosecute your application and also advise on infringement, litigation, licensing and contracts.
• Patent agents are registered with the USPTO but are not attorneys. They can prepare and prosecute patent applications before the Office, which is the bulk of the work, but cannot give legal advice outside that.

Either satisfies the representation requirement. Which you want depends on whether your matter is confined to the Patent Office or reaches beyond it. The USPTO publishes a public, searchable roster of everyone on the register, so any name you are given can be checked in a minute.

What to do if you are affected

1. Establish where you are domiciled, honestly. Not where you are incorporated, not where your mail goes.
2. Check whether you have anything pending — a live application, a response deadline, a maintenance obligation. Deadlines do not pause for a change in the rules.
3. Verify anyone you appoint against the USPTO’s public roster of registered practitioners.
4. Do not delay on the strength of old guidance. Pre-July-2026 advice about filing pro se from abroad is simply out of date, and a filing made on that basis will meet a requirement to appoint a practitioner.
5. Ask whether a patent is the right instrument at all before spending on one. A significant share of people who ask for a patent are describing a brand, which is a trademark question.

How we handle patent matters

We are straightforward about the division, because the rule makes the division unavoidable.

Trademarks we handle ourselves. Sherrod Seward acts as attorney of record and does the work — the filing, the examination, the refusals, the maintenance.

Patents are prosecuted by a registered US patent practitioner we work with directly, who is the practitioner of record on the matter. We are not going to put a name on a patent filing that we are not registered to make; that is precisely the conduct the USPTO polices on the trademark side, and it would be no better here.

What we can usefully do at the outset is tell you which of the two protections your situation actually calls for, and route the work accordingly. That conversation is worth having before you spend anything, because the answer changes the cost by an order of magnitude.