USPTO: trademark and patent fees to hit $3.2bn
The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has predicted it will collect $3.2 billion in patent and trademark filing fees in the fiscal year 2017.
In its Fiscal Year 2017 Congressional Budget Justification, the USPTO said the total, which is slightly higher than the 2016 prediction, will be spent on its plans to “enhance patent quality” and reduce the backlog of applications.
The figure is expected to be accrued between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017.
Every year, the USPTO submits a budget justification to Congress in order to obtain the authority to spend the fees its collects. In total, the USPTO expects to spend $3.25 billion in 2017 compared to $3.23 billion in 2016.
In the justification, the office explained how it plans to spend the fees.
According to the USPTO, it plans to maintain its “high levels of trademark quality and pendency” despite increasing numbers of filings, modernise its IT system, and continue to carry out the provisions of the America Invents Act.
The estimated fee collections have been modified from projections included in last year’s report to reflect new assumptions about the growth rate of patent applications, the office’s latest predictions about demand for services, and to incorporate proposed fee adjustments, the USPTO said.
“The USPTO FY 2017 budget tells the story of a dynamic organisation that is continually adapting to the ever-changing environment in which we operate,” the report said.
“Even as fee collections vary from year to year, the operating reserves allow us to continue to make critical, multi-year investments to improve the USPTO and its operations,” it added.
