The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released a new fee
schedule effective January 1, 2014. Most of the fees remain
unchanged from the March 19, 2013 fee schedule. The most
significant changes are the reduction in the issue fee and the
elimination of the publication fee.
According to the new fee schedule, the utility and reissue issue
fees decrease from $1,780 to $960. The design issue fee is
reduced from $1,020 to $560, and the plant issue fee drops from
$1400 to $760. There are corresponding issue fee reductions
for small and microentities.
The USPTO has eliminated the distinction between unavoidable and
unintentional late payment of a maintenance fee, and now charges a
large entity fee of $1,700 for a petition for the delayed payment
of the fee for maintaining a patent in force. The petition
fee is $850 for both small and microentities. Likewise, the
USPTO has eliminated the distinction between unavoidable and
unintentional abandonment, and the
