Notices of Allowance With Incorrect Issue Fee

On September 15, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued an Advisory ¹ that Notices of Allowance mailed during the period of September 9-15, 2020, may specify an incorrect Issue Fee amount.

Due to a technical problem at the USPTO, most Notices of Allowance mailed between September 9, 2020, and September 15, 2020, specify an Issue Fee amount based on a fee increase that is not effective until October 2, 2020. The USPTO is mailing a Corrected Notice of Allowance (NOA) in cases where the Issue Fee has not yet been paid.

Applicants should confirm that any Notice of Allowance with a mail date between September 9-15, 2020, specify the correct Issue Fee amount.

• The Issue Fees for undiscounted, small entity and micro entity, should be $1,000.00, $500.00 and $250.00, respectively, for Utility and Reissue applications.

• On October 2, 2020, the Issue Fees will increase to $1,200.00, $600.00 and $300.00 for undiscounted, small entity and micro entity, respectively.

The Advisory instructs Applicants who received a Notice of Allowance that has a mailing date between September 9-15, 2020, and that specifies an incorrect Issue Fee amount to wait to pay the Issue Fee until a Corrected Notice of Allowance is received. In addition to specifying the correct fee amount, the Corrected Notice of Allowance will also reset the time period for paying the Issue Fee. The amount specified on the Corrected Notice of Allowance will be the amount due even if the Issue Fee is paid on or after October 2, 2020.

It is important to note that a Corrected Notice of Allowance will only be mailed in situations where the following conditions have been met:

• The original Notice of Allowance has a mailing date between September 9-15, 2020;

• The Notice of Allowance specifies the incorrect Issue Fee amount; and

• The Issue Fee has not yet been paid.

If a Corrected Notice of Allowance is not received by October 2, 2020, in an application meeting these conditions, Applicants should contact the Application Assistance Unit at 888-786-0101 or HelpAAU@uspto.gov.

If the Issue Fee has already been paid in response to a Notice of Allowance that has a mailing date between September 9-15, 2020, that specifies the incorrect amount, or if the Issue Fee was paid and a Corrected Notice of Allowance was subsequently received, the USPTO will follow up with further guidance.

Notices of Allowance for international design applications that have mailing dates between September 9-15, 2020, were not affected.