Micro-Entity Fees Have Finally Arrived!

It took long enough to implement (18 months) but the new super-reduced micro-entity fee rules finally kicked in this morning. There are two paths to these reduced fees but in this entry we're only going to discuss the independent inventor path.
What's a micro-entity? A micro-entity is any individual (or small business with less than 500 employees) that has earned less than $150,000 in gross income in the preceding calendar year, who has not been named as an inventor in more than four previously filed patent applications, and who has not committed to license or assign rights to the invention to an individual or entity earning more than $150,000. You can learn more about micro-entity qualifications by reviewing this article or these USPTO FAQs.
How do you get the fee break? Download Form 15A. Fill it out electronically and sign it electronically -- for example, "/ThomasAlvaEdison/." Then file the Certification (if there are co-inventors, each must complete and file a separate Certification) along with whatever patent application you are filing. In the EFS (electronic filing system used by the USPTO), you will find a dropdown for filing a Certification of Micro Entity Status. Select it and file it along with your provisional or nonprovisional application. Note, you must meet the financial requirement each year to continue to qualify (in 2012 it is gross income under $150,162). New financial requirements will be set each September.
Related article: How Do Co-Inventors Determine Micro-Entity Status?

How Do Co-Inventors Determine Micro-Entity Status?

Dear Rich: The micro-entity fees in the new patent act were supposed to go into effect two years ago but I can't find them at the USPTO? Have they gone into effect? Why not? And when/if they go into effect how do co-inventors qualify? When Congress passed patent reform, one of the crumbs thrown to independent inventors was a discounted fee structure. Instead of 50% off the patent fees for small entity status (a company with under 500 employees), the USPTO was supposed to offer a discount of 75% to inventors who met certain requirements known as micro-entities (see our article comparing small entity and micro-entity status). The micro-entity provision of the law was effective as of September 16, 2011 but (according to the Federal Register) the new fees are not expected to be implemented until March 19, 2013 (about the same time the new first-to-file rules go into effect).
How do you determine micro-entity status for multiple inventors? The rules apply individually to each joint-inventor. So, no joint inventor can have been named as an inventor on more than four applications, and no joint inventor can have a gross income (as defined by the IRS) exceeding three times the median household income for the preceding calendar year (currently $150,162).

Paying More, Not Less, for Patent Filing

Dear Rich: I waited until after the new patent law passed to file a provisional patent application I wanted the new micro-entity fees to go into effect. But when I went to pay, yesterday, I wasn’t given a choice for micro-entity, only small entity. I ended up paying more to file than before the law was passed.  Your timeline for the patent law says that the micro entity fees go into effect immediately. What’s going on? Welcome to patent ‘reform.’ Our timeline is correct. Section 10 of  the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act establishes that the new micro entity fees will go into effect immediately upon enactment (September 16, 2011). Alas, patent filers who sought to take advantage of the reduced micro entity fees -- for example, the fee for filing a provisional patent application would be approximately $62 – were out of luck. The USPTO issued a press release explaining the delay and provided no date for implementation (although some sources claim that the USPTO will not make micro entity fees available until 2013).
Why did you pay more? The law also establishes that a 15% fee increase goes into effect 10 days after enactment (September 26, 2011). Apparently, the USPTO had no problem implementing fee increases and a new fee schedule was rolled out on time. As a result, independent inventors like yourself are actually paying $15 more to file a provisional patent application than before the law was "reformed."

P.S. Wondering what qualifies as a micro entity and how it differs from a small entity? Here's an explanation.