Official Fees Updates: Reduced USPTO Official Fees for Small and Micro Entities and New PCT Fees

January 2023

 

Lower USPTO Fees for Small and Micro Entities

On 29 December 2022, Congress enacted the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. This law includes numerous measures to support small inventors, start-ups, and other “traditionally underrepresented” groups, providing access to pro bono counsel, pilot programs for first time applicants, and lowered fees.

As part of this new law, small and micro entities now enjoy even more reduced patent official fees with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The discounts from large entity fees are increased from 50 percent to 60 percent for small entities, and from 75 percent to 80 percent for micro entities.

If any small and micro entity fees (other than the issue fee) were paid for your application(s) on 29 December 2022 according to the old fee schedule, you should expect a refund from the USPTO for the fee differences; no refund requests are required. We will notify you as soon as possible if any appropriate refunds are issued for your application(s).

 

New PCT Fees due to Exchange Rates

Due to changes in exchange rates with respect to the Swiss franc, the WIPO has also revised the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) fee schedule across receiving offices, starting on 1 January 2023. In general, fees have gone up for payments made using RMB (CNIPA) or Euros (e.g., EPO, IB), whereas they have gone down for payments made using USD (e.g., USPTO, IB).

Our patent fee schedules are updated to reflect the new official fee changes.

If you have any inquiries about the new patent fee schedules or any other IP matters, please do not hesitate to contact us at eip@eipgroup.asia.

This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice or a legal opinion on a specific set of facts.