Patent and Trademark Office November 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) sets or adjusts patent fees as authorized by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), as amended by the Study of Underrepresented Classes Chasing Engineering and Science Success Act of 2018 (SUCCESS Act). The fee adjustments are needed to provide the USPTO with sufficient aggregate revenue to recover the aggregate estimated costs of patent operations in future years (based on assumptions and estimates found in the agency's Fiscal Year 2025 Congressional Justification (FY 2025 Budget)), including implementing the USPTO 2022-2026 Strategic Plan (Strategic Plan).

To provide updates to patent examination policy and procedures in a single source, which will improve access to essential guidance for all stakeholders and help to ensure issuance of robust and reliable patents that promote and protect innovation, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) issued a revision of the Ninth Edition of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), published in November 2024 (January 2024 revision). The MPEP provides patent examiners and the public with a reference work on the practices and procedures relative to the prosecution of patent applications and other proceedings before the USPTO. The MPEP contains instructions to examiners, as well as other material in the nature of information and interpretation, and outlines the current procedures that examiners are required or authorized to follow in appropriate cases in the normal examination of patent applications and during other Office proceedings.