Plan Now to Minimize the Impact of USPTO Fee Increases in January 2025

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has announced substantial increases in the fees that the USPTO charges those who use the patent system. Some of these additional fees can be avoided if Applicants take action before the January implementation date. We are happy to discuss options that might be available to you.

The new fee schedule will take effect on January 19, 2025, impacting patent applicants, owners, and challengers. A wide variety of fees will be increased about 7.5%, but several “targeted” fee increases are much larger, and new fees are imposed. Some of the more notable targeted changes include the following:

• New “Continuing Application fees” of up to $2700 for continuing patent applications (continuations, divisional applications, and continuations-in-part) filed more than six years after a claimed priority date and up to $4000 when filed more than nine years after a claimed priority date.
• Design Patent Application filing fee increases of 36%; search fee increases of 88%; and issue fee increases of 76%.
• Increases of surcharges for “excess claims” of 25-100%, depending on the types and numbers of claims.
• New surcharges for information disclosure statements containing large numbers of citations.
• Increases of 119-200% for certain fees for applicants for Patent Term Extensions
• A 43% increase in the fee charged for a second and each subsequent request for continued examination (RCE) during patent examination.
• Increases of 25% for many fees charged for inter partes review or post-grant review of issued patents (AIA trial fees).

The USPTO will continue to offer 60% discounts of many fees for applicants that qualify for “small entity” status and 80% for those who qualify for “micro entity” status.

The across-the-board and targeted fee increases will affect your patent spend, and may require adjustments to patent budgets for 2025 and beyond. Many clients may be able to avoid some of the new fees if appropriate action is taken before the January implementation date. Your Marshall Gerstein attorney would be happy to help develop and implement effective strategies that minimize the impact of these fee increases.