HomePublicationsUS Patent Fees will increase effective on October 2nd


US Patent Fees will increase effective on October 2nd

September 2020

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced through its Final Rule that patent fees will increase effective on 2 Oct 2020. We have summarized and highlighted some key points below. For a full listing of fee changes, please refer to the excel sheet at this link: Table of Patent Fee Adjustments

The Final Rule includes four general types of patent fee adjustments:

  1. Across-the-board Increase in Patent Fees: The USPTO applied an approximately 5 percent increase to most fees impacted by the rule, including US patent application fees, PCT application fees, international stage application fees, design application fees, post-grant procedures fees, and maintenance fees.

  2. Significant Increases: Certain fees have seen significant increases, including issue fees (20% increase for utility and reissue issue fees), request fee for expedited examination of a design application (78% increase), and maintenance fee surcharge for late payment within six months (213% increase).

  3. New fees: Effective January 1, 2022, the USPTO will introduce a new fee for non-DOCX filings (USD400 for large entity) and a new fee for pro hac vice admission (USD250 for large entity).

  4. Discontinued fees: The USPTO has discontinued four fees, most of which were associated with password recovery services or patent service fees relating to retrieving copies of certain reports and data extracts from the USPTO. Instead, a lot of this information will be made available electronically for free.

During this interim time, we are quoting our clients both sets of fees. If you would like to pay any outstanding fees before the price adjustment on 2 October 2020, please instruct us as soon as possible, latest by 29 September 2020.

We have begun participating in the pilot program and filing applications using DOCX format. Our plan is to switch completely to DOCX filing as soon as possible.


Please contact us with any questions: eip@eipgroup.asia.

Eagle IP are experts in patent law and we offer a one-stop service for your global IP needs.

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.