The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has finalized its fee schedule for 2025. The updated fee schedule is effective on January 19, 2025. It includes increases to most standard office fees. Filing, search, examination, and issuance fees for utility and design patent applications will increase by between 6% to 10%. For example, standard undiscounted fees (filing, search, examination) for a new utility patent application will increase from $1820 to $2000. Clients should take care to consider the increased fees in IP budgets for 2025 (the new fee schedule is available at Federal Register: Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2025). There remains a reduced schedule for small and micro entities.

Other notable increases in the 2025 fee schedule include a 10% increase for a first Request for Continued Examination (RCE) and a 43% increase for second and subsequent RCEs. Excess claim fees (for each claim in excess of 20) will double and the fee for each independent claim in excess of three will increase by 25%. Fees associated generally with post-issuance tasks such as maintenance fees, requests for certificate of correction, and requests for reexamination will increase by 7% to 8%.

In addition, the USPTO is introducing a tiered surcharge schedule for Information Disclosure Statements (IDS). If an IDS is filed that causes the cumulative number of applicant-provided citations to exceed 50 but not exceed 100 items, a surcharge of $200 is required; between 100 to 200 citations requires a surcharge of $500; and exceeding 200 citations requires a surcharge of $800.

The updated fee schedule also includes new categories of fees, including for continuation practice. For example, if a continuing application is filed more than 6 years after the earliest benefit date to which it claims priority, an additional filing fee of $2,700 (undiscounted) will be required. If claiming benefit more than 9 years after the earliest benefit date the additional filing fee is increased to $4,000 (undiscounted).

For more detailed information on the new fee schedule, please visit the USPTO's official website