After a series of consultations, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will increase patent fees. Fee adjustments for most fees will start from October 2, 2020. Some of the fee increases are several hundred dollars. So Applicants should consider filing applications, submitting patent maintenance fees, etc. prior to the fee increases.
Details of the fee increases can be found at the USPTO webpage URL below.
https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/performance-and-planning/summary-fy-2020-final-patent-fee-rule
The USPTO commenced its biennial review of revenues, costs, and fees, costs in 2017. And it decided that fee adjustments were necessary to keep up with rising operational costs. A year later, a hearing was hosted in Virginia by the Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) to gather written and oral testimony from the public. These comments were then consolidated in a report and analyzed prior to the publication of the July 2019 proposed rulemaking notice regarding fee changes.
Overall, the USPTO had feedback from multiple intellectual property (IP) organizations, corporations, individuals, attorneys, etc. Fee changes include across-the-board adjustment to patent fees, other adjustments to existing fees, new fees, and discontinued fees.