If an applicant qualify a micro entity status, they can benefit an 80% discount on most USPTO fees.
What is considered a micro entity?
To qualify for a micro entity status, you must meet the following:
Small entity requirement: each applicant, each inventor, and every other party having an ownership interest in the patent application or patent is a small entity;
Applicant filing limit: the applicant or the inventor cannot be named in more than four previously filed applications other than foreign patent filing, provisional application, or international application for which the basic national fee was not paid (see MPEP 509.04). Also excluded is any patent application where the named inventor has assigned, or under an obligation to assign, all ownership rights in that application as the result of previous employment to a former employer (see 37 CFR 1.29(b));
Gross income limit: the applicant or the inventor cannot have a gross income in the previous year from the date of fee payment of more than the "maximum qualifying gross income" limit. Neither can the applicant or the inventor have assigned, granted, conveyed, or under an obligation to assign, grant, or convey, a license or other ownership interest to another entity that does not meet the same "maximum qualifying gross income" limit. The "maximum qualifying gross income" is currently $241,830.
Employees of US higher education institutions may also qualify for micro entity status.
Can the micro entity status change?
Yes. As described above, to qualify for a micro entity status, you must meet the required criteria. However, as your company progress, you may find that you may no longer meet some of the requirements anymore. For example, your income for a particular year may exceed the maximum qualifying gross income, or the total number of US filings exceed four.
Therefore, it is important for applicants to actively monitor the entity status during the prosecution of a patent application. You are obligated to notify the USPTO of loss of micro entity and pay the appropriate fee if you determine that the requirements for micro enitty status no longer met.
What if I erroneously paid the wrong fee?
As we posted here, the key is whether the mistake was made in good faith. If prior erroneous payment was paid in good faith, the applicant must promptly notify the USPTO to remove the micro entity status with the following steps:
Deficiency payment details for each application or patent, which must include the following information:
Each particular type of fee that was erroneously paid as a micro entity along with the current fee amount for a small or large entity, as applicable;
The micro entity fee actually paid and when;
The deficiency owed amount for each fee erroneously paid; and
The total deficiency payment owed.
Payment of the deficiency owed;
If the mistake was not made in good faith, it would be considered as a fraud practiced or attempted on the USPTO, which could result in an unenforceable patent (see 37 CFR 1.29(j)).
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