On October 2, 2020 many USPTO fees are set to increase by about 5%. Some fees will increase even more than 5%, notably maintenance fees and fees for post grant proceedings at the PTAB.
In the USPTO’s Final Rule regarding the new fee schedule that was published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2020, the USPTO indicated that the fee adjustments were being made
“to help the USPTO keep up with inflation in order to achieve strategic goals,” and “to encourage the effective administration of the IP system and to permit cost recovery for certain services.”
Representative Large Entity Fee Changes include:
- Issue Fee: 20% increase to $1,200
- First (3.5 year) Maintenance Fee: 25% increase to $2,000
- Late Maintenance Fee Payment Surcharge: 21.3% increase to $500
- Expedited Examination of Design Patent Application: 78% increase to $1,600
- Inter Partes Review Request Fee: 23% increase to $19,000; institution to $22,500 (up to 20 claims)
- Post Grant Review / CBM: request fee increased 25% to $20,000; post-institution fee increased to $27,000 (up to 20 claims)
- ~5% increase to the US utility patent filing, search and examination fees will add up to $100 more, for a total of $1,820
- ~5% increase to PCT application transmittal and search fees will add up to $120 more, for a total of $2,440
- Three patent service fees and the Office of Enrollment and Discipline USPTO-assisted recovery of ID or password reset fee will be eliminated in the new fee schedule.
USPTO Delays Other Fees
The USPTO has delayed implementing a previously announced surcharge of $400 (large entity) for filing utility nonprovisional applications in a format other than DOCX. This surcharge is now scheduled to be imposed beginning on January 1, 2022. This delay was made in response to public comments in order to allow applicants more time to transition to the new filing scheme.
Applicants and patentees should consider paying any USPTO fees in advance of October 2, 2020 to save money if possible.
