USPTO Set to Raise Fees in early 2025 – How to Reap the Most Benefits from your Patent Budget

Effective Jan. 19, 2025, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) patent fees will see about a 7.5 percent across-the-board increase. 89 Fed. Reg. 91898 (Nov. 20, 2024). Some patent fees will see significantly steeper increases, up to 100 percent of those in the last fee adjustment in October 2020. These adjustments are part of the USPTO’s efforts to ensure sufficient funding for its operations in view of inflationary increases, enhance patent examination quality and achieve its patent pendency goals. Below are some of the most notable fee changes to keep in mind:

Clients and their outside counsel should engage early in their portfolio planning activities for 2025 – and beyond. Importantly, clients should update their operating budgets to account for the USPTO’s hefty government fee increases. Doing so will ensure adequate funds are available for legal spend in helping strategically identify, file, prosecute and maintain valuable patent assets for the company. For any green-lighted projects in the near future, clients could save money by filing applications and RCEs and paying issue and maintenance fees before the fee increase takes effect.

Clients should embrace compact prosecution strategies, including examiner interviews, to reduce the likelihood of requiring a second and subsequent RCE. Unless absolutely required to fully protect a technology, clients should consider filing 20 or fewer claims and no more than three independent claims to prevent heavy excess claim fees. As for continuing applications, it will be important to monitor the six- and nine-year deadlines from the EBD to avoid incurring additional fees. Further, clients and outside counsel should explore whether any eligible discounts can be leveraged by the applicant claiming small-entity or micro-entity status. However, any changes in entity status (e.g., small to large) should be monitored and updated with the USPTO to avoid any risks of a patent being found unenforceable for inequitable conduct.