By Dennis Crouch
On March 19, the USPTO's new fee structure becomes effective. Some fees are going down, others are going up. "Micro entities" will likely wait until tomorrow to take action in their cases because of the new micro entity fee that is a 75% reduction of standard fees. Folks filing on post issuance reexamination or review will also wait one day for substantial savings.
- Filing Application (Filing + Search + Examination Fees): $1,600 up from $1,260.
- Additional claims: $80 for each additional claim; $420 for each additional independent claim. This is up from $62 and $250 respectively.
- Issue fee: $1,780 up from $1,770.
- Maintenance (renewal) fees:
- Due at 3.5 years: $1,600 up from $1,150.
- Due at 7.5 years: $3,600 up from $2,900.
- Due at 11.5 years: $7,400 up from $4,810.
- Request for Continued Examination:
- First Request: $1,200 up from $930.
- Second or Subsequent Request: $1,700 up from $930.
- Request for Prioritized Examination: $4,000 down from $4,800.
- Appeals:
- Notice of Appeal: $800 up from $630.
- Brief in Support of Appeal: $0 down from $630.
- Forwarding Appeal to the Board: $2,000 up from $0. (Essentially, the PTO has pushed-back and increased the payment).
- Requesting Oral Hearing: $1,300 up from $1,260.
- Extension fees:
- One Month: 200 up from $150.
- Two Months: $600 up from $570.
- Three Months: $1,400 up from $1,290.
- Four Months: $2,200 up from $2,010.
- Five Months: $3000 up from $2,730.
- Post-Grant Proceedings:
- Request for ex parte reexamination: $12,000 down from $17,750.
- Supplemental Examination: $16,500 with $12,100 refunded if no reexamination is ordered. This is down from $21,260 with $16,120 refundable.
- Petition for Inter Partes Review: $23,000 with $14,000 refunded if petition is denied. This is down from $27,200 with no refund.
- Petition for Post Grant Review: $30,000 with $18,000 refunded if petition is denied. This is down from $35,800 with no refund.
- Provisional Applications: $260 up from $250.
- Design Patents:
- Filing (Filing + Search + Examination Fees): $760 up from $530. (Updated to fix prior typo)
- Issue: No change at $1,020.
New fee regime: http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/qs/ope/fee031913.htm
Obviously patent applicants are impacted by costs just like any other market participant. And, PTO fees appear to akin normal goods in that an increase in price will result in a decrease in the quantity demanded (and vice-versa). However, I also suggest (without too much proof) that most USPTO fees are still fairly inelastic. What this means for the bottom line is that the increase in fees will result in increased revenue for the PTO and that most patent applicants will need to increase their budgets accordingly.
