The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released a new fee schedule effective January 1, 2014. Most of the fees remain unchanged from the March 19, 2013 fee schedule. The most significant changes are the reduction in the issue fee and the elimination of the publication fee.
According to the new fee schedule, the utility and reissue issue fees decrease from $1,780 to $960. The design issue fee is reduced from $1,020 to $560, and the plant issue fee drops from $1400 to $760. There are corresponding issue fee reductions for small and microentities.
The USPTO has eliminated the distinction between unavoidable and unintentional late payment of a maintenance fee, and now charges a large entity fee of $1,700 for a petition for the delayed payment of the fee for maintaining a patent in force. The petition fee is $850 for both small and microentities. Likewise, the USPTO has eliminated the distinction between unavoidable and unintentional abandonment, and the fee for petitioning for revival of an abandoned application is the same as the petition for delayed maintenance fee payment.
In addition, the petition fee for a delayed submission of a priority claim or to restore the benefit of priority is increased from $1420 to $1700 for a large entity. The small and microentity fee is now $850.
The USPTO also imposed minor increases in a number of Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fees to foreign offices. These fees are subject to periodic increases due to fluctuations in the exchange rate.
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