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November 11, 2004

Another USPTO Fee Increase?

As you may know, fees to the USPTO increased on October 1, 2004. So you may think it’s too soon for another increase. The U.S. House of Representatives disagrees. In fact, the House voted to increase fees again on March 3, 2004 (before the current increase even took effect). It isn’t law yet, though. It has to pass the Senate first. That could happen as early as Tuesday. According to www.gpoaccess.gov, the legislation is on the Senate calendar (no. 487) for November 16, 2004. If it does pass, it will be effective fiscal year 2005.

I’ve heard that the bill was supposed to contain a provision to keep fees in the USPTO, rather than allowing them to be diverted to other governmental functions. But, I couldn’t find anything to support this assertion. However, there are provisions that would make other changes. For example, reduced fees for electronic filing.

The bill, H.R. 1561 is called the "United States Patent and Trademark Fee Modernization Act of 2004" and can be found at thomas.loc.gov.

My printout of the bill is 8 pages long, but I’ll try to summarize for you:

  • Regular filing fees will all be decreased (on average by about 50%)
  • Excess claim fees will all increase (on average by about 100%)
  • An examination fee will be added for regular applications (on average about $150)
  • Issue fees will all increase (on average by about 30%)
  • The first maintenance fee will decrease slightly (to $900 from $940), but the second and third will each increase (from $2,150 to $2,300 and from $3,320 to $,3800 respectively)
  • The USPTO will charge a search fee for all regular applications ($500 for utility, and $300 for design and plant), which the director may increase by 20% a year for 3 years.
  • Filing fees will be reduced by 75% when electronic filing is used.
  • The director will be required to conduct a study of the effect of patent fees on the ability of small entities to file applications.
  • Generally, other fees will increase by similar amounts as those listed above.

Generally, the minimum USPTO fees for a utility patent from application to expiration will increase from $8,570 to $9,400 ($9,175 with electronic filing). 7-10% may not seem like a large increase, but this would be the second increase in two years.

If you have an opinion about any of the proposed changes, let your senator know before Tuesday. You can find contact information at www.senate.gov.



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