Setting and Adjusting Patent Fees During Fiscal Year 2020

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) published a final rule in the Federal Register on August 3, 2020, that includes a fee for patent applications that are not filed in the DOCX format, except for design, plant, or provisional applications. The effective date of this new fee was most recently delayed in a final rule published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2022 and was scheduled to become effective on April 3, 2023. Through this final rule, the USPTO is delaying the effective date of this fee until June 30, 2023.