Footnote 1:
Please Note: The fees are current as of the revision date. Fees are
subject to change in October of each year and should therefore be
verified before submission to the PTO. A fee schedule may be obtained
by writing to Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C.
20231—Attention: General Information Services or by calling the
General Information Services at 800–786–9199 or 703–308–4357 or from
the PTO Web site at _http://www.uspto.gov_.
The filing fee of a non-provisional application, except in design and
plant cases, consists of a basic fee and additional fees. The basic fee
entitles the applicant to present twenty (20) claims, including not more
than three (3) in independent form. An additional fee is required for
each claim in independent form which is in excess of three (3) and an
additional fee is required for each claim (whether independent or
dependent) which is in excess of a total of twenty (20) claims. If the
application contains multiple dependent claims, additional fees are
required.
If the owner of the invention is a small entity, (an independent
inventor, a small business concern or a non-profit organization), the
filing fees are reduced by half if the small entity files a verified
statement claiming small entity status.
To avoid errors in the payment of fees it is suggested that the table in
the enclosed patent application transmittal letter be utilized to
calculate the fee payment.
In calculating fees, a claim is in singularly dependent form if it
incorporates by reference a single preceding claim which may be an
independent or a dependent claim. A multiple dependent claim or any
claim depending therefrom shall be considered as separate dependent
claims in accordance with the number of claims to which reference is
made.
The law also provides for the payment of additional fees on presentation
of additional claims after the application is filed. When an amendment
is filed which presents additional claims over the total number already
paid for, or additional independent claims over the number of
independent claims already accounted for, it must be accompanied by any
additional fees due.
Specification
(Description and Claims)
The following order of arrangement should be observed in framing the
application:
(a) Application transmittal form.
(b) Fee transmittal form.
(c) Title of the Invention.
(d) Cross Reference to related applications (if any).
(e) Statement of federally sponsored research/development (if any).
(f) Reference to a microfiche appendix (if any).
(g) Background of the Invention.
(h) Brief Summary of the Invention.
(i) Brief description of the several views of the drawing (if any).
(j) Detailed Description of the Invention.
(k) Claim or claims.
(1) Abstract of the disclosure.
(m) Drawings (if any).
(n) Executed oath or declaration.
(o) Sequence listing (if any).
(p) Plant Color Coding Sheet (applicable in plant patent applications).
The specification must include a written description of the invention
and of the manner and process of making and using it, and is required to
be in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person
skilled in the technological area to which the invention pertains, or
with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same.
The specification must set forth the precise invention for which a
patent is solicited, in such manner as to distinguish it from other
inventions and from what is old. It must describe completely a specific
embodiment of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter,
or improvement invented, and must explain the mode of operation or
principle whenever applicable. The best mode contemplated by the
inventor for carrying out the invention must be set forth.
In the case of an improvement, the specification must particularly point
out the part or parts of the process, machine, manufacture, or
composition of matter to which the improvement relates, and the
description should be confined to the specific improvement and to such
parts as necessarily cooperate with it or as may be necessary to a
complete understanding or description of it.
The title of the invention, which should be as short and specific as
possible, should appear as a heading on the first page of the
specification, if it does not otherwise appear at the beginning of the
application.
A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification
including that which is new in the art to which the invention pertains,
must be set forth on a separate page immediately following the claims.
The abstract should be in the form of a single paragraph of 250 words or
less, under the heading “Abstract of the Disclosure.”
A brief summary of the invention indicating its nature and substance,
which may include a statement of the object of the invention should
precede the detailed description. The summary should be commensurate
with the invention as claimed and any object recited should be that of
the invention as claimed.
When there are drawings, there shall be a brief description of the
several views of the drawings, and the detailed description of the
invention shall refer to the different views by specifying the numbers
of the figures, and to the different parts by use of reference numerals.
The specification must conclude with a claim or claims particularly
pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the
applicant regards as the invention. The portion of the application in
which the applicant sets forth the claim or claims is an important part
of the application, as it is the claims that define the scope of the
protection afforded by the patent and which questions of infringement
are judged by the courts.
More than one claim may be presented provided they differ substantially
from each other and are not unduly multiplied. One or more claims may be
presented in dependent form, referring back to and further limiting
another claim or claims in the same application. Any dependent claim
which refers back to more than one other claim is considered a “multiple
dependent claim.”
Multiple dependent claims shall refer to such other claims in the
alternative only. A multiple dependent claim shall not serve as a basis
for any other multiple dependent claim. Claims in dependent form shall
be construed to include all of the limitations of the claim incorporated
by reference into the dependent claim. A multiple dependent claim shall
be construed to incorporate all the limitations of each of the
particular claims in relation to which it is being considered.
The claim or claims must conform to the invention as set forth in the
remainder of the specification and the terms and phrases used in the
claims must find clear support or antecedent basis in the description so
that the meaning of the terms in the claims may be ascertainable by
reference to the description.