USPTO announces updated fees structure

Pursuant to the Federal Register Notice where USPTO announced plans to exercise their authority to set or adjust patent fees, the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) held a public hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, and invited members of the public to submit comments on fee adjustments. Following the hearing, PPAC provided USPTO with a written report detailing the public comments received and its recommendations regarding the proposed fees, who considered and analyzed all comments, advice, and recommendations, and published a notice of proposed rulemaking on setting and adjusting patent fees.

USPTO again invited additional comments which were considered, and in response decided not to move forward with three targeted proposals and revised an additional three targeted proposals.

The three fee changes USPTO is not moving forward, include:

• a new fee for After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 requests;

• a targeted increase to the patent term adjustment fee; and

• terminal disclaimer tiered fees.

The three revised fee changes (and their revisions) include:

• upward adjustment of the timing thresholds for continuing applications;

• substantial reduction to the adjusted patent term extension fee; and

• elimination of the proposed new tier for third and subsequent requests for continued examination, and corresponding adjustments to the existing fee for second and subsequent requests.

The changes will be effective from January 19th 2025.