Heading into 2025, patent applicants should prepare for significant fee increases at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). These fee increases can significantly impact patent applicant behavior, leading...more
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a notice of rulemaking announcing proposed patent fee increases beginning next year. 89 Fed. Reg. 23226 (April 3, 2024). The proposed increases are generally consistent with the...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has proposed significant changes to patent fee structures for the 2025 fiscal year. These proposed changes mark a pivotal shift in the Office’s financial approach toward...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) offers reductions in official fees to patent applicants that qualify for “small entity” status, which can be advantageous for many companies. However, various factors...more
On May 8, 2023, the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) announced proposed trademark fee increases. The proposed fee increases are the result of lower revenue than previously forecasted and higher-than-expected inflation....more
The US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) issued a final rule reducing certain patent fees for small and micro-entities on March 22, 2023. The Federal Register notice can be found here. Small entity filing fee discounts are...more
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) has reduced the patent fees for small businesses and certain other applicants. This fee reduction is part of an effort to reduce financial burdens and resulting barriers...more
The Unleashing American Innovators Act, which formed part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, was signed into law by President Biden on December 29, 2022. This Act increased the discount on most patent-related...more
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) allows certain qualifying entities to receive discounts on various patent fees by identifying themselves as a “small entity ” or a “micro entity.” Below, we outline the requirements...more
USPTO Leadership - ..Drew Hirshfeld is still performing the functions and duties of Director. Kathi Vidal, the Biden Administration’s nominee to be the next Director, testified at the Senate Judiciary...more
The USPTO has announced yet another COVID-19 pilot program, which began on September 17, 2020. Under this new pilot, the USPTO allows applicants to defer the application fee for any provisional patent application directed to...more
In response to the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies are reevaluating their expenditures. Some may look to their intellectual property portfolios as a place to cut costs....more
On August 8, 2018, Director Iancu issued a letter to the Patent Public Advisory Committee notifying of proposed fee increases at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and institution of new annual fee for active patent...more
While Congress is trying to pass a tax reform bill that would cut corporate taxes, USPTO patent fees will increase effective January 16, 2018. The 72% jump in the Inter Partes Review request fee has gotten the most attention,...more
On November 14th, the USPTO issued a final rule setting and adjusting patent fees during fiscal year 2017. The new fees, set to take effect January 16, 2018, include upward adjustments of fees for requesting Inter Partes...more
When filing a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), certain applicants have the option to designate “small entity status” or “micro entity status.” Claiming either small or micro...more
The USPTO has published its notice of proposed rulemaking for the FY 2017 patent fee schedule in the Federal Register. The USPTO proposes fee increases to recover its estimated costs for patent operations and achieve its...more
The USPTO recently announced a proposed new fee schedule in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in search of revenue to recover its projected $3 billion aggregated operating costs for the 2017 fiscal year. If enacted, it...more
The USPTO has published a proposed fee schedule for patent fees likely to take effect October 1, 2017–the start of the USPTO’s next fiscal year. The proposed fee schedule makes “slight” changes to many fees, and more...more
Today, the USPTO released a notice of proposed rulemaking (set to be published on October 3 in the Federal Register) setting and adjusting patent fees (including fees for post-grant proceedings) during fiscal year 2017. ...more
As we reported earlier this week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office originally set a June 30, 2016 deadline for customers to migrate their deposit accounts and electronic funds transfer accounts (EFTs) to Financial...more
Last week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent an e-mail alert reminding practitioners and applicants that the deadline for migrating their deposit accounts and electronic funds transfer accounts (EFTs) is June 30,...more
Tucked into the USPTO’s proposed patent fee changes is a proposal to change the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) framework. While applicants may welcome the simplified procedures for obtaining consideration of an IDS,...more
The USPTO has proposed a reduction in some of its fees for electronically filing trademark applications and renewing registrations. The reduced fees would become effective January 2015 and are as follows...more
Some recent administrative developments may be of interest to copyright and trademark practitioners: Copyright Fees - Effective May 1, 2014, the U.S. Copyright Office has amended its registration fee schedule. This...more