“Each litigant pays his own attorney’s fees, win or lose.”[1] As such, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the American Rule by holding that 35 U.S.C. §145 does not require losing applicants to pay USPTO attorneys’ fees in NantKwest, Inc. v. Iancu,[2] in an en banc decision handed down on July 27, …
Category: fees
IP Practicum: Maintenance Fees Required for All Reissue Family Members
On January 8, 2018, the USPTO quietly issued a notice that beginning on January 16, 2018, all reissue patent family members, as well as the original parent patent from which the reissue application(s) originated from, will be subject to payment of maintenance fees for each reissue family member (i.e., divisional and continuation reissue patents) (MPEP …
USPTO Finalizes New Patent Fee Schedule
On November 14, 2017, the USPTO issued its final rule on new fees for Fiscal Year 2017.[1] There are some marked increases, several moderate increases, some nominal increases, a few new fees, and some fees which have been eliminated altogether. The new fee schedule reflects a strategic goal for aligning fees to their associated costs …