The Party’s Over: Fee Hike At USPTO

Each time that I traveled to Asia on business over the last seven years, I was asked as to when the world might expect U.S. patent reform. Well, it’s finally here.  You cannot look at a paper or a blog without some reference to the America Invents Act being signed into law last Friday. One of the more immediate implications of this law was to give the USPTO fee-setting authority.  As such, there will be a 15 percent surcharge on certain patent fees, effective Monday, September 26, 2011.  There is also a newly established “micro-entity” rate that should be reviewed.  All in all, we haven’t seen a rate hike in about three years from the USPTO so it’s better than most industries.