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DOC/PTO | RIN: 0651-AD31 | Publication ID: Fall 2019 |
Title: Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2020 | |
Abstract:
The USPTO operates like a business in that it fulfills requests for intellectual property products and services that are paid for by users of those services. The USPTO takes this action to set and adjusts patent fee amounts to provide sufficient aggregate revenue to cover aggregate cost of operations. |
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Agency: Department of Commerce(DOC) | Priority: Economically Significant |
RIN Status: Previously published in the Unified Agenda | Agenda Stage of Rulemaking: Final Rule Stage |
Major: Yes | Unfunded Mandates: No |
EO 13771 Designation: Fully or Partially Exempt | |
CFR Citation: 37 CFR 1 37 CFR 11 37 CFR 41 37 CFR 42 | |
Legal Authority: 35 U.S.C. 2(b)(2) 5 U.S.C. 500 15 U.S.C. 1123 35 U.S.C. 32 35 U.S.C. 41 Pub. L. 113-227 35 U.S.C. 3(a)(2)(A) 35 U.S.C. 21 35 U.S.C. 23 35 U.S.C. 134 35 U.S.C. 135 Pub. L. 112-29 35 U.S.C. 6 35 U.S.C. 311 35 U.S.C. 231 35 U.S.C. 321-326 Pub. L. 112-274 |
Legal Deadline:
None |
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Statement of Need: The purpose of this rule is to set and adjust patent fee amounts to provide sufficient aggregate revenue to cover the agency's aggregate cost of operations. To this end, this rule creates new or changes existing fees for patent services, and does so without imposing any new costs. |
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Summary of the Legal Basis: The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), enacted in 2011, provided USPTO with the authority to set and adjust its fees for patent and trademark services. This authority was extended an additional 8 years by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success (SUCCESS) Act of 2018. The USPTO has conducted an internal biennial fee review, in which it undertook internal consideration of the current fee structure, and considered ways that the structure might be improved, including rulemaking pursuant to the USPTO's fee setting authority. This fee review process involves public outreach, including, as required by the Act, a public hearing held by the USPTO's Patent Public Advisory Committee, as well as public comment and other outreach to the user community and public in general. |
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Alternatives: The alternatives are: 1) the proposed alternative to set and adjust patent fees, 2) setting fees at unit cost recovery, 3) an across the board adjustment that would set fees by applying a one-time inflationary increase to all fees, and 4) the current fee schedule (no adjustments). |
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Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The proposed alternative has qualitative benefits of improved fee schedule design and securing aggregate revenue to recover aggregate cost. No costs were identified. The user fees charged by the USPTO for its services are considered transfer payments that do not affect the total resources available to society, and therefore the changes to patent fees proposed by this rulemaking are transfers, and are not costs of this rulemaking. |
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Risks: The USPTO will set and adjust patent fee amounts to provide the Office with a sufficient amount of aggregate revenue to recover the aggregate cost of patent operations in future years and allow the Office to continue progress towards achieving strategic goals. Therefore, one risk of taking no action could be that USPTO might not be able to recover its aggregate costs of operations in the long run. |
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Timetable:
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Regulatory Flexibility Analysis Required: Yes | Government Levels Affected: None |
Small Entities Affected: Businesses | Federalism: No |
Included in the Regulatory Plan: Yes | |
RIN Data Printed in the FR: Yes | |
Agency Contact: Brendan Hourigan Director, Office of Planning and Budget Department of Commerce Patent and Trademark Office P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450 Phone:571 272-8966 Fax:571 273-8966 Email: brendan.hourigan@uspto.gov |