Fee Setting Authority to be Exercised for FY 2017
The USPTO discussed its first ever fee increase under the fee setting authority of the America Invents Act (AIA) in November of 2015. At the time, an initial proposal was provided to the Public Patent Advisory Committee (PPAC) for review. While the initial hope was to have the proposed fee adjustments take effect on October 1st (start of FY 2017), significant stakeholder feedback and considerations have, understandably, slowed the rule making process. At long last, the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) issued today. Since a Final Rule Notice must follow the NPRM, the proposed fee adjustments will not go into effect until calendar year 2017.
(USPTO fee setting page here for more background)
1. IPR fees will increase from $23,000 to $30,500 (Request increases $5k, Institution increase $2.5K)
2. PGR/CBM fees will increase from $30,000 to $38,000 (Request increase $4k, Institution increase $6K)
3. Appeal to PTAB from ex parte proceeding will increase from $2800 to $3500 (Notice of appeal + appeal forwarding (large entity)) Factoring in the fee for an oral argument (large entity $1300), that could include a total of $4800 in government fees for a large entity, ex parte appeal.
Notable fee decreases:
1. Ex parte reexamination requests that are less than 40 pages are discounted 50% relative to existing fees, which remain unchanged.
Notable increase in prosecution fees
1. +$100 (large entity) +$50 (small entity) +$25 (micor entity) for first RCE ($200/$100/$50 for subsequent RCE)
2. IDS increases of ($60/$30/$15) for large ,small and micro entitites, respectively.