Important Reminder: USPTO will impose surcharges on non-DOCX documents after January 17, 2024

Starting January 17, 2024, the USPTO will charge a surcharge for non-provisional patent application documents submitted in non-DOCX file formats.

Since the USPTO launched the new patent center to require applicants to submit patent application documents in DOCX format, relevant application documents such as claims, abstracts, abstract drawings, and description drawings can be formally submitted to the USPTO and obtained in the Patent Center before submission. Verification to improve the stability and accuracy of patent applications. In order for the public to officially use the Patent Center, the USPTO has set up a transitional trial period.

However, starting from January 17, 2024, the transition period of the Patent Center will officially end. After that, if patent application documents are submitted with non-DOCX documents, the USPTO will charge a surcharge.

While using Patent Center DOCX to transmit files, applicants can still choose the PDF backup or auxiliary application provided in the DOCX version to back up the PDF version of the submitted application documents.