This is the first blog in a series that will cover several important changes in the newly passed Patent Act. Both a summary and the full text of the Act are available at http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1249.
After the Act is signed by President Obama, one change that will take effect almost immediately is an increase in fees of 15%. These fees will cover only certain types of filings, and the regulations are subject to change. Your patent attorney can give you the details of the current fee structure.
Unfortunately, a provision in the original act that would have prevented Congress from raiding revenue generated by Patent Office user fees was defeated, and so is not included in the final bill to be signed. While, in theory the fee diversion is supposed to stop, unfortunately fee diversion remains subject to the whims of federal politicians. Unless fee diversion stops, we cannot expect the Patent Office to get caught up with their gigantic backlog of pending patent applications.
