The latest USPTO patent fees schedule is provided for your reference in a convenient table. The USPTO patent fee schedule provided here includes three columns referring to large, small, and micro entity. Large entity fee is the full price fee the government charges large corporations. Small entity fee is generally half of the large entity fee; this fee charged to small corporations and startups. Micro entity fee is further a half of small entity fee (1/4 of large entity fee); this fee is charged to inventors who earn below a threshold annual salary. To learn more about large, small, and micro entity status, please read our post regarding USPTO entity status.
| Patent Fee Type | Large Entity | Small Entity | Micro Entity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Filing Fees | |||
| Provisional Application Filing Fee | $280 | $140 | $70 |
| Utility (Non-Provisional) Application Filing Fee | $1,720 | $785 | $430 |
| Design Application Filing Fee | $960 | $480 | $240 |
| Other Fees, if Applicable | |||
| Late Submission of Initial Fee or Declaration | $160 | $80 | $40 |
| Independent Claims in Excess of 3 (per claim) | $460 | $230 | $115 |
| Total Claims in Excess of 20 (per claim) | $100 | $50 | $25 |
| Track 1 (Prioritized) Examination | $4,140 | $2,070 | $1,035 |
| Unintentional Abandonment | $2,000 | $1,000 | $500 |
| RCE Fees | |||
| First Request for Continued Examination | $1,300 | $650 | $325 |
| Subsequent Request for Continued Examination | $1,900 | $950 | $475 |
| Extension of Time Fees | |||
| One Month Extension | $200 | $100 | $50 |
| Two Month Extension | $600 | $300 | $150 |
| Three Month Extension | $1,400 | $700 | $350 |
| Patent Appeal Fees (Ex parte) | |||
| Notice of Appeal | $800 | $400 | $200 |
| Forwarding an Appeal in an Application or Ex parte Reexamination Proceeding to the Board | $2,240 | $1,120 | $560 |
| Request for Oral Hearing | $1,300 | $650 | $325 |
| Patent Issue Fees | |||
| Utility Issue Fee | $1,000 | $500 | $250 |
| Design Issue Fee | $700 | $350 | $175 |
| Patent Maintenance Fees | |||
| Due at 3 Years After Issue (1st) | $1,600 | $800 | $400 |
| Due at 7 Years After Issue (2nd) | $3,600 | $1,800 | $900 |
| Due at 11 Years After Issue (3rd) | $7,400 | $3,700 | $1,850 |
Please note, these fees are USPTO fees only and do not include legal/ attorney fees.
The USPTO patent fees schedule provided here mirrors the current fee schedule provided on the USPTO website. This is the second fee hike since March 2013 when the America Invents Act became authoritative. According to the USPTO, “[t]he 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.”
Other comments: Notably enough, the USPTO decided to reduce the ex-parte appeal fee (than originally planned). According to the register, regarding appeal fees, a commenter had expressed “concern over passing a large portion of the appeal unit costs as increased fee rates borne by an appellant[, and] [t]hus … suggested eliminating, or substantially reducing, the notice of appeal fee. Another commenter questioned whether increasing appeal fees would discourage meritorious appeals, noting that, the reversal rate by the PTAB indicates that a large number of appeals are pursued to correct invalid rejections.” Based on the comments, the USPTO reduced the fee increase for forwarding an appeal application to the board by $240, $120, and $60 for large, small and micro entities, respectively, instead of the proposed increase of $500, $250, and $125 for each respective entity.