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USPTO Issues Final Rule To Adjust Patent Fees
37 CFR Parts 1 and 41, Docket No. PTO–C02008–0004, RIN 0651–AC21, 08/14/2008
Basic Information
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") issued on August 14, 2008 a final rule that directs the adjustment of patent fees for fiscal year to reflect fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index ("CPI"). The patent statute provides for the annual CPI adjustment of patent fees set by statute to recover the higher costs associated with doing business. In addition, in the final rule, the USPTO has corrected the addresses for maintenance fee payments and correspondence, and deposit account replenishments. The addresses are being changed to reflect the current addresses that should be used.
By way of background, patent fees are set by or under the authority provided in 35 U.S.C. 41, 119, 120, 132(b), 156, 157(a), 255, 302, 311, 376, section 532(a)(2) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) (Pub. L. 103– 465, § 532(a)(2), 108 Stat. 4809, 4985 (1994)), and section 4506 of the American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 (AIPA) (Pub. L. 106–113, 113 Stat. 1501, 1501A–565 (1999)). For fees paid under 35 U.S.C. 41(a) and (b) and 132(b), independent inventors, small business concerns, and nonprofit organizations who meet the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 41(h)(1) are entitled to a fifty-percent reduction.
Section 41(d) of title 35, United States Code, authorizes the USPTO Director to establish fees for all other processing, services, or materials related to patents to recover the average cost of providing these services or materials, except for the fees for recording a document affecting title, for each photocopy, for each black and white copy of a patent, and for standard library service.
Section 41(f) of title 35, United States Code, provides that fee amounts established under 35 U.S.C. 41(a) and (b) may be adjusted on October 1, 1992, and every year thereafter, to reflect fluctuations in the CPI over the previous twelve months. Section 41(g) of title 35, United States Code, provides that new fee amounts established by the Director under 35 U.S.C. 41 may take effect thirty days after notice in the Federal Register and the Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The fee amounts were rounded by applying standard arithmetic rules so that the amounts rounded will be convenient to the user. Fees for other than a small entity of $100 or more were rounded to the nearest $10. Fees of less than $100 were rounded to an even number so that any comparable small entity fee will be a whole number.
View a PDF of the rule.Service
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