USIJ Comments on PTO Fee Setting

The Alliance of U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs (“USIJ”) responds herein to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, dated April 3, 2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 23226) (“NPRM”) proposed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) for setting and adjusting patent fees.

“USIJ supports the PTO’s goal in the NPRM to adjust fees to recover the Office’s rising aggregate costs in providing its critical services to patent stakeholders. This is particularly important in view of recent rising costs in the U.S. economy, the need to maintain an appropriately compensated competent examiner work force with reliable, state of the art IT infrastructure. USIJ is concerned, however, that some of the patent fees are proposed to be set contrary to the PTO’s rulemaking authority under the America Invents Act as amended (“AIA”), and without PTO obtaining clearance from the Office of Management and Budgets (“OMB”) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (“PRA”).”