USPTO increases fees as of January 16, 2018

On January 16, 2018, the revised patent fees will take effect in the USA affecting large, small and micro entities. In total, there are 352 patents fees, which have been adjusted, set or newly proposed.

Even though some fees will be increased significantly, especially Patent Trial and Appeal fees, most of the charges remain unchanged or increased slightly.

Patent filing fees are increased by approximately 10% including fee changes for independent and dependent claims. Also, search and examination fees are increased by 10% and 5% respectively. In case of smooth registration procedure, applicants will hardly notice such increases, as the addition of 4% to issue fee will be the last applicable fee change.  All the maintenance fees remain identical to the current fees.

The increase for design applications will be slightly higher: the basic filing fee is increased by 10%, while search and examination charges are increased by 30%, and the issue fee is 20% higher.

At the same time small and micro entities will further enjoy fee reductions, i.e. 50% for small entities and 75% for micro entities. Thus, the fee increase for these groups will be equivalent.

IP-Coster quotation system will be updated with the relevant fees as of January 16, 2018, for your convenience. For additional information on patent and design registration procedure in the US, please visit our applicant’s guide, where most common questions are covered.