USPTO Fees

In early 2013, the USPTO raised many of its fees and lowered a few. One accounting trick, however, is that some of the fee reductions were delayed until January 1, 2014. The two key areas of newly reduced fees are the publication fee and the issue fee.

  1. Publication Fee was $300 and is now $0, even for early-publication requests. This takes away one incentive to file a non-publication request.
  2. Issue fee was $1,780 and is now $960. That fee is reduced by 50% for small entities and 75% for micro entities and universities.
  3. PCT Fees are now subject to the small and micro entity status discounts.
  4. Assignment recordation is now free if done electronically.