|
PRESS RELEASE
November 14, 2017
#17-05
CONTACT: (Media Only) Paul Fucito
(571) 272-8400 or paul.fucito@uspto.gov
USPTO
Finalizes Revised Patent Fee Schedule
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of
Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today issued a
final rule, “Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees during Fiscal Year
2017” to set or adjust certain patent
fees, as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The revised
fee schedule is projected to recover the aggregate estimated cost of the
USPTO’s patent operations, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) operations,
and administrative services. The additional
fee collections will support the USPTO’s progress toward its strategic goals
like pendency and backlog reduction, patent quality enhancements, technology
modernization, staffing optimization, and financial sustainability.
In
response to feedback from patent stakeholders, the USPTO altered several of
the fee proposals presented in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM). The
key differences between the NPRM and the final rule are:
- In response to stakeholder concerns, the USPTO reduced
both plant and design issue fees from the levels proposed in the NPRM.
Still, the large entity plant issue fee increases to $800 (+$40) and the
large entity design issue fee increases to $700 (+$140). Plant and
design patents do not pay maintenance fees, and the majority of plant
and design applicants are eligible for small and micro entity fee
reductions, which remain available.
- Stakeholder feedback suggested that increased appeal fees
could discourage patent holders’ access to increasingly important USPTO
appeal services. In response, the USPTO elected to maintain the existing
Notice of Appeal fee at $800 instead of increasing it to $1,000 as
proposed in the NPRM. Likewise, the fee for Forwarding an Appeal to the
Board increases to $2,240 (+$240) instead of $2,500 as proposed in the
NPRM. The revised fees still do not fully recover costs, but taken
together should allow continued progress on reducing the backlog of ex
parte appeals. Since the 2013 patent fee rulemaking, ex parte
appeal fees have enabled the PTAB to hire more judges and greatly reduce
the appeals backlog, from nearly 27,000 in 2012 to just over 13,000 at
the end of FY 2017. Additional appeals fee revenue will support further
backlog and pendency reductions.
- Increases to the PTAB AIA trial fees are aimed at better
aligning these fees with the USPTO’s costs and aiding the PTAB to
continue to meet required AIA deadlines. The Office’s costs for Inter
Partes Review requests are consistently outpacing the fees collected for
this service. These fee adjustments seek to more closely align
fees and costs. Trial fees and associated costs still remain
significantly less than court proceedings for most stakeholders.
- Inter Partes Review Request Fee – up to 20 Claims
increases to $15,500 (+$6,500)
-
Inter Partes Review Post-Institution Fee - Up to 15 Claims
increases to $15,000 (+$1,000)
Other
fee changes proposed in the NPRM remain the same.
For
the full list of the patent fees that are changing and more information on
fee setting and adjusting at the USPTO, please visit http://www.uspto.gov/about-us/performance-and-planning/fee-setting-and-adjusting.
Stay
current with the USPTO by subscribing to receive e-mail updates. Visit our
Subscription Center at www.uspto.gov/subscribe.
# # #
|
