POST 25: USPTO's Maintenance Fee Outcry

http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2013/04/responding-to-usptos-new-maintenance-fee-regime.html

The USPTO recently introduced a new fee system, and people don't seem to like it. The new system changes the fees by increasing them about 50%. Understandably, people were shocked by the sudden
increase. The major increase has allowed smary patent holders to pay the renewal fees early. This early payment allows the patent holders to pay upto a half year early in some cases or six months late too.

"According to the Federal Register Notice:

[The new fee structure will] will provide the Office with a sufficient amount of aggregate revenue to recover its aggregate cost of patent operations, while helping the Office implement a sustainable funding model, reduce the current patent application backlog, decrease patent application pendency, improve patent quality, and upgrade the Office’s patent business information technology (IT) capability and infrastructure. The fees also will further key policy considerations [and implement the new reduces fees for micro entities.]

The Federal Register Notice outlines the following “policy” objectives, and they ways in which the fee structure is designd to serve them:

1. Fostering innovation
   • setting the basic filing, search and examination fees below cost-recovery levels to encourage innovators
   • offering fee reductions for micro and small entities
   • setting the issue and maintenance fees above cost-recovery levels to encourage release of less valuable patents to the public domain
2. Facilitating effective administration of the patent system
   • encourage actions that enable examiners to provide prompt, quality interim and final decisions
   • encourage the prompt conclusion of prosecution
   • help recover the additional costs imposed by some applicants’ more intensive use of certain services
3. Offering patent prosecution options to applicants
   • offering staged fees for RCEs, appeals, and contested cases"

However, why do this? Is the USPTO making it easier or harder to file a patent. And if harder, shouldn't the increase in difficulty go to security for the patent holders?

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