607 Filing Fee
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I. BASIC FILING, SEARCH, AND EXAMINATION FEES
For nonprovisional applications filed under 35 U.S.C. 111(a) (including reissue applications), the following fees are required: basic filing fee, search fee, examination fee, application size fee if applicable; excess claims fees, if applicable; and non-electronic filing fee, if applicable.
The basic filing, search and examination fees are due on filing of the nonprovisional application under 35 U.S.C. 111(a).
- These fees may be paid on a date later than the filing date of the application provided they are paid within the time period set forth in 37 CFR 1.53(f) and include the surcharge.
For provisional applications, the basic filing fee is required.
- The basic filing fee is due on filing of the provisional application, but may be paid later, if paid within the time period set forth in 37 CFR 1.53(g) and accompanied by payment of a surcharge.
II. APPLICATION SIZE FEE
The application size fee applies to any application (including any provisional applications and any reissue applications) filed under 35 U.S.C. 111 the specification (including claims) and drawings of which, excluding a sequence listing or computer program listing filed in an electronic medium in compliance with the rules, exceed 100 sheets of paper.
- The application size fee applies for each additional 50 sheets or fraction thereof over 100 sheets of paper.
A preliminary amendment that is present on the filing date of the application is part of the original disclosure of the application.
- Thus, the Office will count the pages of a preliminary amendment present on the filing date of the application, including multiple sets of drawings or multiple sets of a specification, e.g., clean and marked-up versions, in determining the application size fee required.
The Office will not count the sheets of paper making up any English translation of a non-English language specification if submitted with the application on filing.
III. EXCESS CLAIMS FEES
37 CFR 1.16(h) sets forth the excess claims fee for each independent claim in excess of three. 37 CFR 1.16(i) sets forth the excess claims fee for each claim (whether independent or dependent) in excess of twenty.
Fees for a proper multiple dependent claim are calculated based on the number of claims to which the multiple dependent claim refers, and a separate fee is required in each application containing a proper multiple dependent claim.
- For an improper multiple dependent claim, the fee charged is that charged for a single dependent claim.
Upon submission of an amendment (whether entered or not) affecting the claims, payment of fees for those claims in excess of the number previously paid for is required.
- Amendments affecting the claims cannot serve as the basis for granting any refund.
For nonprovisional applications filed without claims, if more than three independent claims, more than twenty total claims, or a multiple dependent claim, are presented in the application, the excess claims fee is due when the excess claims are presented in the application.
607.02 Returnability of Fees
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(d) The Director may refund any fee paid by mistake or any amount paid in excess of that required.
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(a) The Director may refund any fee paid by mistake or in excess of that required. A change of purpose after the payment of a fee, such as when a party desires to withdraw a patent filing for which the fee was paid, including an application, an appeal, or a request for an oral hearing, will not entitle a party to a refund of such fee. The Office will not refund amounts of twenty-five dollars or less unless a refund is specifically requested, and will not notify the payor of such amounts. If a party paying a fee or requesting a refund does not provide the banking information necessary for making refunds by electronic funds transfer (31 U.S.C. 3332 and 31 CFR part 208), or instruct the Office that refunds are to be credited to a deposit account, the Director may require such information, or use the banking information on the payment instrument to make a refund. Any refund of a fee paid by credit card will be by a credit to the credit card account to which the fee was charged.
(b) Any request for refund must be filed within two years from the date the fee was paid, except as otherwise provided in this paragraph or in §1.28(a). If the Office charges a deposit account by an amount other than an amount specifically indicated in an authorization (§1.25(b)), any request for refund based upon such charge must be filed within two years from the date of the deposit account statement indicating such charge, and include a copy of that deposit account statement. The time periods set forth in this paragraph are not extendable.
(c) If the Director decides not to institute a reexamination proceeding in response to a request for reexamination or supplemental examination, fees paid with the request for reexamination or supplemental examination will be refunded or returned in accordance with paragraphs (c)(1) through (c)(3) of this section. The reexamination requester or the patent owner who requested a supplemental examination proceeding, as appropriate, should indicate the form in which any refund should be made (e.g., by check, electronic funds transfer, credit to a deposit account). Generally, refunds will be issued in the form that the original payment was provided.
(1) For an ex parte reexamination request, the ex parte reexamination filing fee paid by the reexamination requester, less the fee set forth in § 1.20(c)(7), will be refunded to the requester if the Director decides not to institute an ex parte reexamination proceeding.
(2) For an inter partes reexamination request, a refund of $7,970 will be made to the reexamination requester if the Director decides not to institute an inter partes reexamination proceeding.
(3) For a supplemental examination request, the fee for reexamination ordered as a result of supplemental examination, as set forth in § 1.20(k)(2), will be returned to the patent owner who requested the supplemental examination proceeding if the Director decides not to institute a reexamination proceeding.
The Office may refund:
- a fee paid by mistake (e.g., fee paid when no fee is required); or
- any fee paid in excess of the amount of fee that is required.
When an applicant or patentee takes an action “by mistake” (e.g., files an application or maintains a patent in force “by mistake”), the submission of fees required to take that action (e.g., a filing fee submitted with such application or a maintenance fee submitted for such patent) is not a “fee paid by mistake”.
- A change of purpose after the payment of a fee, as when a party desires to withdraw the filing of a patent application for which the fee was paid, will not entitle the party to a refund of such fee.
I. MANNER OF MAKING A REFUND
The Office is authorized to obtain the banking information necessary for making refunds by electronic funds transfer, or to obtain the deposit account information to make the refund to the deposit account.
- Any refund of a fee paid by credit card will be by a credit to the credit card account to which the fee was charged.
- The Office will not refund a fee paid by credit card by treasury check, electronic funds transfer, or credit to a deposit account.
II. TIME PERIOD FOR REQUESTING A REFUND
Any request for a refund which is not based upon subsequent entitlement to small entity status must be filed within the two-year nonextendable time limit set forth in 37 CFR 1.26(b).
III. FEES PAID BY DEPOSIT ACCOUNT
The Office treats authorizations to charge a deposit account as being received by the Office on the date of receipt.
IV. LATER ESTABLISHMENT OF SMALL ENTITY STATUS
There is a three-month period (from the deposit account charge authorization date) for requesting a refund based on later establishment of small entity status.
V. REFUND OF SEARCH FEE AND EXCESS CLAIMS FEE
The Office may refund the search fee and any excess claims fee paid in an application if applicant files a petition to expressly abandon the application before an examination has been made of the application.
- The basic filing fee, non-electronic filing fee, the examination fee, and the application size fee cannot be refunded unless the fee was paid by mistake or in excess of that required.
