United States: PTO Proposes Increasing Patent Fees
Increases in patent fees have been suggested, according to the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). Inflation would result in a general 5% rise in patent fees. In order to lessen the amount that other charge sources subsidize certain fees, some rates would be raised by a significant amount more than the 5% inflationary rise. For instance, a 27% rise in filing, search, and examination costs plus a 76% increase in the issue fee would result in a 48% total [...]