USPTO Proposes New Fees and Fee Increases

On April 3, 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a notice of proposed rulemaking with 455 fee changes including several new fees and fee increases for patent filing and prosecution. The USPTO has solicited comments regarding the proposed fees until June 3, 2024. Some of the exemplary new fees and fee increases are reproduced below. The exemplary fees are for large entities with discounts for small and micro entities:

The USPTO states that the rather high new fees and fee increases are in response to increased operating costs due to higher-than-expected inflation, pay rates to recruit and retain examiners, and the increased fee discounts for small and micro entities under the Unleashing American Innovators Act (UAIA). The USPTO asserts that the goal of the new fees and fee increases is to “generate sufficient multi-year revenue to recover the aggregate costs of maintaining USPTO patent operations.”

Regarding the new fee for AFCP 2.0 requests, the USPTO states that the AFCP 2.0 program is costly to the agency and is heavily used with “more than half of after-final responses coming via this program.” Because a significant portion of the cost for the program comes from the initial consideration, if the USPTO is unable to recover the cost of the program the USPTO may consider terminating the program.

You can find the exact proposed rulemaking in the Federal Registrar at the following link: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-04-03/pdf/FR-2024-04-03.pdf

We encourage all clients and prospective clients with portfolios in the United States to bear in mind the upcoming potential fee increases. Any comments to the proposed rulemaking can be submitted via the portal on the regulations.gov homepage.

At Renner Otto, the oldest intellectual property firm in Cleveland, we specialize in assisting our clients as they develop efficient Intellectual Property strategies that are tailored to their business’s needs. Our attorneys are knowledgeable on a wide range of domestic and international IP issues, and we partner with Firms around the world to better serve our clients.  

Someone from the Renner Otto team would be happy to discuss this topic or any related Intellectual Property matters.