The 60 and 80 Percent Fee Reductions
Final rule, 88 FR 17147, published 22 March 2023, implementing the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022. Read from the primary document; quotations verified against its own text.
A final rule effective in March 2023 implemented the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022 by raising the patent fee reduction for small entities from 50 to 60 percent and for micro entities from 75 to 80 percent, applying to filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing and maintaining patents.
Congress deepened the discounts. The Act struck 50 percent and inserted 60 for small entities, and struck 75 and inserted 80 for micro entities, and this rule implemented that across filing, search, examination, issue, appeal and maintenance fees. For a startup or a university the saving is real. The less obvious consequence is on the other side: the larger the discount, the larger the exposure when a status assertion turns out to be wrong, and status can change on an assignment, a licence, a funding round or an obligation to assign.
The rule itself is short and exercises no discretion. Having been told the new numbers by statute, the Office "is now required under 35 U.S.C. 41(h)(1) and section 10(b) of the AIA to reduce patent fees for filing, searching, examining, issuing, appealing, and maintaining patent applications and patents" by the new percentages. There is no policy judgment in it to contest.
What Changed
| Entity | Reduction before | Reduction after | Share of the undiscounted fee now paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small entity | 50% | 60% | 40% |
| Micro entity | 75% | 80% | 20% |
The reductions reach every one of the six fee categories the statute names, so they compound across the life of an application rather than applying once at filing. A small entity that pays 40 percent to file also pays 40 percent to have the application searched and examined, 40 percent to have the patent issue, 40 percent to appeal, and 40 percent at each maintenance window.
This page carries the percentages and not the dollar amounts. The percentages are statutory and have not moved since; the amounts they apply to are set by each fee-setting rule and have changed more than once since 2023. The FY2025 fee rule, covered separately in this cluster, is the most recent to change them. A percentage quoted here will still be right next year. An amount would not be.
Asserted Versus Certified
The rule's own scope sentence draws a distinction that is easy to read past. "The reduced fee rates (60% for small entities and 80% for micro entities) apply to any small entity asserting small entity status" and to any micro entity certifying micro entity status.
Asserting and certifying are different acts with different formality. Small entity status is asserted; micro entity status is certified, and the micro entity route carries the additional certification requirement. What they share is more important than what separates them: both are the applicant's own representation about its circumstances. Neither is a determination the Office makes. That is why the deeper discount cuts both ways.
When Status Changes
Entity status is not fixed at filing. It follows the applicant's circumstances, and those circumstances move. The moments that most often change them are transactions: an assignment, an exclusive licence, a funding round that brings in a larger investor, an acquisition, a change in headcount, or a new obligation to assign the invention to someone who would not qualify.
The practical habit that follows is to re-check status at those moments rather than at filing only. A status that was correct when the application was filed and wrong by the time the issue fee is paid is a status that was wrong when it mattered.
- Small entity status is asserted at filing and relied on at every later fee.
- Micro entity status is certified, and the certification is the applicant's representation.
- Both are self-reported. The Office applies the reduced rate to whoever asserts or certifies.
What This Does Not Decide
- It does not say whether any applicant qualifies as a small or micro entity.
- It does not compute anyone's fees, and it does not state the current fee amounts.
- It does not say what happens when a status assertion is later found to be incorrect.
- It concerns fees, not patentability.
Educational, not legal advice. This page reports what an authority says. Applying it to a matter is work for a registered practitioner with the file in front of them.
Sources
- Reducing Patent Fees for Small Entities and Micro Entities Under the Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022, 88 FR 17147 (Mar. 22, 2023)
- Unleashing American Innovators Act of 2022, amending 35 U.S.C. 41(h)(1) and section 10(b) of the AIA
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