USPTO extends fee deadlines but warns relief will end soon

The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has further extended fee payment deadlines for small businesses, despite fears for the office’s funding.

However, in a  notice posted yesterday, the USPTO indicated that these extensions, which have been in place and renewed several times in March, could soon come to an end.

The deadline extensions cover payment of fees for searching, maintenance, filing, and other USPTO services.

They were first announced on March 16 and have been renewed since under the extra powers granted to the USPTO in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

In the latest announcement, USPTO director Andrei Iancu said he did “not anticipate any further broad-based extensions beyond what is outlined in this notice”.

Iancu early this month wrote to legislators advising them that the USPTO could need extra support to fund its operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was  contacted by lawmakers, including senators Thom Tillis and Christopher Coons, who sought clarity on the USPTO’s finances.

“As a fully fee-funded agency, the USPTO is more likely than other agencies to feel the residual effects of any crisis’s impact on the private sector,” said the elected representatives’ letter to the USPTO director.

In his reply, Iancu  advised the legislators that the USPTO was relying on its reserves in the absence of normal fee collections.

“The reserve level stood at $95 million based on preliminary data through May 2020, which could fund trademark operations for 13 weeks in the absence of additional fee collections,” Iancu wrote.

The USPTO has postponed planned upgrades to its IT systems in an effort to cut costs during the period of reduced funding.

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