USPTO Launches Significant Patent Fee Increases
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") raised patent fees and introduced new surcharges.
The USPTO implemented across-the-board adjustments to patent fees as of January 19, 2025.
For example, fees for excess total claims over 20 and independent claims over three have increased to $200 and $600 each, respectively, for undiscounted entities.
Design applications are also subject to increased fees for filing, search, examination, and issuance.
Fees for patent term extension ("PTE") applications have more than doubled to $2,500, along with fee increases for requests for interim extensions and redetermination.
Requests for Continued Examination ("RCE") increased to $1,500 for the first RCE and $2,860 for each subsequent RCE.
Suspensions of action have increased to $300 for a first request and $450 for subsequent requests. Unintentional delay petitions also cost more across the board.
Continuing and divisional applications are subject to a new tiered fee schedule, with a surcharge of $2,700 and $4,000 for applications filed more than six and nine years, respectively, after the earliest benefit date claimed under 35 §§ U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c), and 37 C.F.R. § 1.78(d) (i.e., not the filing date of a provisional application to which benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e)).
There also is a new tiered fee schedule for filing an Information Disclosure Statement ("IDS"), based on the number of items submitted (additional $200 for 51-100 items, $500 for 101-200 items, and $800 for > 200 items submitted). However, an item submitted in a parent application is not counted in a child application for fee purposes, unless it is resubmitted.
Below are additional exemplary increases in basic utility patent life cycle fees for undiscounted entities.
Applicants are encouraged to closely work with patent counsel to determine strategies for filings affected by these fee changes, and consider filing continuing applications at earlier times relative to the benefit dates, streamlining claims, planning for potential PTE disclaimers, consolidating IDS filings, and preventing multiple RCE requests where possible.
