What occurs if the issue fee is not paid by the deadline?

When the issue fee is not paid by the deadline, the application goes abandoned. This means that the application is effectively removed from consideration for patent issuance. The issue fee is a crucial step in the patent process, as it indicates the applicant's intent to proceed with obtaining a patent after the application has been allowed. If the issue fee is not submitted within the specified time frame, the patent office will consider the application abandoned due to lack of action from the applicant.

In contrast to this, if the issue fee were to be rejected, the application would not officially be abandoned until some action was taken by the applicant or the patent office. A hold on the application would imply a temporary pause, which does not occur if the fee is not paid. Lastly, automatically accepting the issue without fee payment would contradict the requirement for applicants to demonstrate intent and commitment to secure patent rights through timely fee payment.