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607 Filing Fee [R-2] - 600 Parts, Form, and Content of Application
607 Filing Fee [R-2]
Patent application filing fees are set in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 41 and are listed in 37 CFR 1.16.
See MPEP § 608.01(n) for multiple dependent claims.
When filing a nonprovisional application, a basic fee entitles applicant to present 20 claims including not more than 3 claims in independent form. If claims in excess of the above are included at the time of filing, an additional fee is required for each independent claim in excess of three, and a fee is required for each claim in excess of 20 claims (whether independent or dependent). Fees for a proper multiple dependent claim are calculated based on the number of claims to which the multiple dependent claim refers, 37 CFR 1.75(c), 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.
The Office of Initial Patent Examination (OIPE) has been authorized to accept all applications, otherwise acceptable, if the basic fee is submitted, and to require payment of the deficiency within a stated period upon notification of the deficiency.
Amendments before the first action, or not filed in reply to an Office action, presenting additional claims in excess of the number already paid for, not accompanied by the full additional fee due, will not be entered in whole or in part and applicant will be so advised. Such amendments filed in reply to an Office action will be regarded as not responsive thereto and the practice set forth in MPEP § 714.03 will be followed.
The additional fees, if any, due with an amendment are calculated on the basis of the claims (total and independent) which would be present, if the amendment were entered. The amendment of a claim, unless it changes a dependent claim to an independent claim or adds to the number of claims referred to in a multiple dependent claim, and the replacement of a claim by a claim of the same type, unless it is a multiple dependent claim which refers to more prior claims, do not require any additional fees.
For purposes of determining the fee due the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a claim will be treated as dependent if it contains reference to one or more other claims in the application. A claim determined to be dependent by this test will be entered if the fee paid reflects this determination.
Any claim which is in dependent form but which is so worded that it, in fact, is not a proper dependent claim, as for example it does not include every limitation of the claim on which it depends, will be required to be canceled as not being a proper dependent claim; and *>cancellation< of any further claim depending on such a dependent claim will be similarly required. The applicant may thereupon amend the claims to place them in proper dependent form, or may redraft them as independent claims, upon payment of any necessary additional fee.
After a requirement for restriction, nonelected claims will be included in determining the fees due in connection with a subsequent amendment unless such claims are canceled.
An amendment canceling claims accompanying the papers constituting the application will be effective to diminish the number of claims to be considered in calculating the filing fees to be paid. A preliminary amendment filed concurrently with a response to a Notice To File Missing Parts of Application that required the filing fees, which preliminary amendment cancels or adds claims, will be taken into account in determining the appropriate filing fees due in response to the Notice To File Missing Parts of Application. No refund will be made for claims being canceled in the response that have already been paid for.
The additional fees, if any, due with an amendment are required prior to any consideration of the amendment by the examiner.
Money paid in connection with the filing of a proposed amendment will not be refunded by reason of the nonentry of the amendment. However, unentered claims will not be counted when calculating the fee due in subsequent amendments.
Amendments affecting the claims cannot serve as the basis for granting any refund.
See MPEP § 1415 for reissue application fees.
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