Setting And Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2017.pdf

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) proposes to set or adjust patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The proposed fee adjustments are needed to provide the Office with a sufficient amount of aggregate revenue to recover its aggregate cost of patent operations, while maintaining momentum towards achieving strategic goals. This rulemaking represents the second iteration of patent fee rulemaking by the USPTO to set fees under the authority of the AIA. The proposed fee adjustments align directly with the Office's strategic goals and four key fee setting policy factors. The Office solicits comments from the public on this proposed rulemaking, with written comments to be received on or before December 2, 2016. The proposed rule includes 205 fee adjustments, which are outlined in detail in Part V. The Office prefers to receive comments by electronic mail message over the Internet, which allows the Office to more easily share comments with the public. The comments will be available for public inspection via the Office's Internet Web site and at http://www.regulations.gov. The proposed rule supports the patent-related strategic goals to optimize patent quality and timeliness, and the management goal to achieve organizational excellence. The Office intends to issue a final rule on fee changes in FY 2017 after receipt and analysis of public comments. The proposed rule includes a formal process closely tied to the annual budget process, where the USPTO management and leadership teams reviewed and analyzed individual fee changes and new fee proposals to assess their alignment with the Office's strategic goals and fee structure philosophy. The Office assessed how well each proposal aligned with four key fee setting policy factors: Foster innovation, align fees with the full cost of products and services, set fees to facilitate the effective administration of the patent and trademark systems, and offer application processing options for applicants.