U.S. Patent Act
..Part I. Patent and Trademark Office
....Chapt. 4. Patent Fees
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(a) The Commissioner shall charge the following fees:
1. On filing each application for an original patent, except in design or plant cases, $ 300; in addition, on filing or on presentation at any other time, $ 30 for each claim in independent form which is in excess of three, $ 10 for each claim (whether independent or dependent) which is in excess of twenty, and $ 100 for each application containing a multiple dependent claim. For the purpose of computing fees, a multiple dependent claim as referred to in section 112 of this title [35 USCS Sects. 133, 151], in which case the fee shall be $ 50.
8. For petitions for one-month extensions of time to take actions required by the Commissioner in an application:
a. On filing a first petition, $ 50.
b. On filing a second petition, $ 100.
c. On filing a third or subsequent petition, $ 200.
(b) The Commissioner shall charge the following fees for maintaining a patent in force:
1. Three years and six months after grant, $ 400.
2. Seven years and six months after grant, $ 800.
3. Eleven years and six months after grant, $ 1,200.
Unless payment of the applicable maintenance fee is received in the Patent and Trademark Office on or before the date the fee is due or within a grace period of six months thereafter, the patent will expire as of the end of such grace period. The Commissioner may require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting within such six-month grace period the late payment of an applicable maintenance fee. No fee will be established for maintaining a design or plant patent in force.
(c)(1) The Commissioner may accept the payment of any maintenance fee required by subsection (b) of this section which is made within the twenty-four months after the six-month grace period if the delay is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioner to have been unintentional, or at any time. The Commissioner may require the payment of a surcharge as a condition of accepting payment of any maintenance fee after the six-month grace period. If the Commissioner accepts payment of a maintenance fee after the six-month grace period, the patent shall be considered as not having expired at the end of the grace period.
(2) No patent, the term of which has been maintained as a result of the acceptance of a payment of a maintenance fee under this subsection, shall abridge or affect the right of any person or his successors in business who made, purchased or used after the six-month grace period but prior to the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection anything protected by the patent, to continue the use of, or to sell to others to be used or sold, the specific thing so made, purchased, or used. The court before which such matter is in question may provide for the continued manufacture, use or sale of the thing made, purchased, or used as specified, or for the manufacture, use or sale of which substantial preparation was made after the six-month grace period but before the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection, and it may also provide for the continued practice of any process, practiced, or for the practice of which substantial preparation was made, after the six-month grace period but prior to the acceptance of a maintenance fee under this subsection, to the extent and under such terms as the court deems equitable for the protection of investments made or business commenced after the six-month grace period but before the acceptance of a maintenance fee under the subsection.
(d) The Commissioner will establish fees for all other processing, services, or materials related to patents not specified above to recover the estimated average cost to the Office of such processing, services, or materials. The yearly fee for providing a library specified in section 13 of this title [35 USCS Sect. 13] with uncertified printed copies of the specifications and drawings for all patents issued in that year will be $ 50.
(e) The Commissioner may waive the payment of any fee for any service or material related to patents in connection with an occasional or incidental request made by a department or agency of the Government, or any officer thereof. The Commissioner may provide any applicant issued a notice under section 132 of this title [35 USCS Sect. 132] with a copy of the specifications and drawings for all patents referred to in that notice without charge.
(f) The fees established in subsections (a) and (b) of this section may be adjusted by the Commissioner on October 1, 1985, and every third year thereafter, to reflect any fluctuations occurring during the previous three years in the Consumer Price Index, as determined by the Secretary of Labor. Changes of less than 1 per centum may be ignored.
(g) No fee established by the Commissioner under this section will take effect prior to sixty days following notice in the Federal Register.
(h)(1) Fees charged under subsection (a) or (b) shall be reduced by 50 percent with respect to their application to any small business concern as defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act, and to any independent inventor or nonprofit organization as defined in regulations issued by the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks.
(2) With respect to its application to any entity described in paragraph (1), any surcharge or fee charged under subsection (c) or (d) shall not be higher than the surcharge or fee required of any other entity under the same or substantially similar circumstances.
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