Changes to the US patent fee structure are set to take effect on January 19, 2025, following today’s publication of the USPTO Final Rule notice. These changes include an average increase of 7.5% from the current fees, combined with 52 additional fees that were not previously assessed. The USPTO indicated that this final rule sets or adjusts 433 patent fees for undiscounted, small, and micro entities.
The following fees (with large entity fees shown, and percent increases from the current fees where applicable) have a significantly greater fee impact such that advance planning and action should be considered.
Key New Fees:
- Filing a continuing application more than 6 years after the earliest benefit date: $2,700
- Filing a continuing application more than 9 years after the earliest benefit date: $4,000
- Information Disclosure Statements (IDS) with 51-100, 101-200, and over 200 references: $200, $500, and $800, respectively
Notable Fee Increases:
- Utility application filing, search, and examination fees: $2,000 (10% increase)
- Excess claims, each claim in excess of 20: $200 (100% increase)
- Excess claims, each independent claim in excess of 3: $600 (25% increase)
- Design application filing, search, and examination fees: $1,300 (27% increase)
- Design application issue fee: $1,300 (76% increase)
- Request for Continued Examination (RCE) fee for second and subsequent requests: $2,860 (43% increase)
Significant increases also apply to fees for patent term extension, requests for suspension of action, and petitions for unintentional delays exceeding 2 years.
The USPTO also generally implemented an across-the-board fee increase for trial fees associated with PTAB post-grant proceedings by 25%.
While these increases are substantial, the USPTO did consider comments in response to the proposed rulemaking published earlier this year. The proposed third RCE fee was not implemented, although the fee for the second RCE was increased. The timeframe for the new benefit claim fees was extended out a year compared to the proposed rule. The USPTO also opted not to implement tiered Terminal Disclaimers fees.
View a summary of the fee changes can be found on the USPTO’s website
View the full listing of fee changes for all large, small and micro entity fees can be found on the USPTO’s website
View the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publication in the Federal Register
If you have any questions about these fees or wish to review your patent portfolio, please contact us.
