The America Invents Act gave authority to the US Patent & Trademark Office to set or adjust fees associated with patent examinations. Through this fee-setting authority, the USPTO will reduce certain fees effective January 1, 2014. The changes impact Post-Allowance patent fees, PCT International Stage fees, and assignment recordation fees. Many Post-Allowance patent fees will decrease by almost 50%. For example utility patent issue fees will decrease from $1,780 to $960 for large entities, $890 to $480 for small entities, and $445 to $240 for micro entities. In addition, publication fees for early, voluntary, or normal publication have been eliminated. The basic PCT International Stage fees will not change, but a few small entity and micro entity rates will. Some of those fees include:
- Transmittal fee;
- Search fee;
- Supplemental search fee;
- Transmittal fee to International Bureau to act as Receiving Office;
- Preliminary Examination fee;
- Supplemental examination fee; and
- Late payment fee;
The USPTO is also eliminating the fee for recording a patent assignment, agreement or other paper submitted electronically. The updated fee schedule effective January 1, 2014 can be accessed here. The changes in fees will most likely result in a substantial amount of small and micro entity applicants delaying payment of issue fees until after the changes take effect to take advantage of the new schedule of fees.