special discount for foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners from selected and low-income cOUNTRIES
Lean about Patents
USPTO Updates
Required Use by Foreign Applicants and Patent Owners of a Patent Practitioner:
SUMMARY:
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is amending the Rules of Practice in Patent Cases to require patent applicants and patent owners whose domicile is not located within the United States (U.S.) or its territories (hereinafter foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners) to be represented by a registered patent practitioner. A requirement that foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners be represented by a registered patent practitioner will bring the U.S. in line with most other countries that require that such parties be represented by a licensed or registered person of that country. Additionally, this requirement will increase efficiency and enable the USPTO to more effectively use available mechanisms to enforce compliance by all foreign applicants/inventors and patent owners with U.S. statutory and regulatory requirements in patent matters, and enhance the USPTO's ability to respond to false certifications, misrepresentations, and fraud.
From the Notice:
A foreign-domiciled inventor or applicant can pay the filing fees; however, to establish micro entity status, a registered patent practitioner must sign the micro entity certification.
DATES:
This rule is effective on July 20, 2026.
What is Provisional Patent Application?
In simple words, Provisional Patent Application is a simple application you file in USPTO to protect your invention without the need to complete drafting all aspects of the invention. Assume you already have the invention and you want to present it somewhere like in a conference, you may quickly file a Provisional Patent Application using descriptions, examples, simple drawings... as far as the 'subject matter' is there. This will secure a 'priority date' for your invention and you have one year to file the Nonprovisional Patent Application with the same subject matter. Provisional Patent Application does not require specific format, no claims are needed and it will not be examined by USPTO. It will not be published either. The Nonprovisional Patent Application that claims the priority to the Provisional Patent Application is the one that will be examined. If the Provisional Patent Application was not followed by Nonprovisional Patent Application, it will be abandoned and like 'disappeared'.
Provisional Patent Application is also a good way to protect your invention while exploring the market to decide, withing one year, to go for the Nonprovisional Patent Application or not. You can also get 'patent pending' status with Provisional Patent Application.
How much are USPTO fees for filing?
USPTO fees are updated frequently. Follow this link for the most updated fee schedule and the updates of extra charges when applicable: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule
As of January 3, 2026, here is a simplified explanation about how much you are expected to pay:
Assuming a patent applications with electronic filing, < 3 independent claims, <20 total claims, no multiple dependent claim, <100 sheets, no sequence listings more than 300MB): you need to pay patent application filing fee, search fee and examination fee, and it depends on if you qualify for small entity discount or micro entity discount.
Utility Patent Applications (Nonprovisional Applications):
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: 350+770+880= $2000.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: 70+308+352= $730.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: 70+154+176= $400.
Utility Patent Applications (Provisional Applications):
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $325.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $130.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $65.
Design Patent Applications:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: 300+300+700= $1300.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: 120+120+280= $520.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: 60+60+140= $260.
What are the additional expected USPTO fees?
USPTO fees are updated frequently. An increase in some patent related fees was introduced in the updated fee schedule in January 19, 2025. Follow this link for the most updated fee schedule and the updates of extra charges when applicable: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/fees-and-payment/uspto-fee-schedule
As of January 3, 2026, here is a simplified explanation about how much you are expected to pay after the initial payment upon filing:
When you file the patent application, you need to pay patent application filing fee, search fee and examination fee as explained before. After that the patent will be published after 18 months (no fees is required) and go into the prosecution and will be examined by one of USPTO examiners. There will be office actions (normally rejections of some or all of the claims), there is no USPTO fees to reply to the office actions (but you mostly need to pay professional fees to your patent practitioner) but there are fees if you need to extend the time. If the patent is allowed, you need to pay the patent issue fees.
There are additional fees when submitting petitions or if some documents were not submitted in the same day of submitting the patent application or the fees were not paid at the same day.
Utility issue fee:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $1290.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $516.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $258.
Design issue fee:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $1300 as USPTO fees.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $520.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $260.
Now you got your patent granted, you need to maintain it to keep it in force. There is maintenance fees (applicable only to utility patents) to be paid after specific number of years:
At 3.5 years:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $2150.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $860.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $430.
At 7.5 years:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $4040.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $1616.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $808.
At 11.5 years:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: $8280.
If you are small entity, you need to pay: $3312.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: $1656.
In many cases (not all), when the claims cannot reach allowance level in the final office action (usually the second office action), the patent applications need to file Request for continued examination (RCE) to continue examining the application and avoid the rejection. RCE costs:
If you are normal undiscounted entity, you need to pay: 1st request $1500, 2nd and subsequent request $2860.
If you are a small entity, you need to pay: 1st request $600, 2nd and subsequent request $1144.
If you are micro entity, you need to pay: 1st request $300, 2nd and subsequent request $572.
Please note, usually patent practitioners also charge professional services for filing RCE.
