President Obama is expected to sign the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act – which significantly changes many existing U.S. patent laws – on September 16, 2011. We want to alert you about one aspect of the Act that may impact you almost immediately. The Act imposes an automatic 15% patent fee increase that becomes effective 10 days after the Act is signed.
In an effort to mitigate the impact of the fee increase on your budget, you should consider taking simple actions such as paying application issue fees, filing continuation and divisional applications, and paying patent maintenance fees due within the next six months before patent fees increase, i.e., by no later than about September 26, 2011. For example, paying an issue fee before fees increase will save you about $275. Paying a maintenance fee before the fees increase will save you from $150-$600.
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