During the May 14 Patent Public Advisory Committee meeting, Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations ANDREW FAILE reported that patent application filings are now projected to decline by 1.8% in FY2015 over FY2014. This was a significant change; during the February PPAC meeting Faile reported that the FY2015 growth over FY2014 was projected to be 2%.
In FY2014 the growth rate was 2.8%, down from the agency’s 5% projection for the year. The USPTO’s fiscal 2016 budget request stated that due to signs of lower-than-planned growth in patent application filings, projected patent fee collections for the period 2014-2019 had been reduced by $1.2 billion.
Faile declined to speculate on the cause of this seemingly new trend of slower growth. He said the change appeared flat across patent examining “technology centers” but noted there is a lag between the filing of a patent application and the date it is assigned to a technology center. The agency is working on adjusting plans for hiring and spending in response to the anticipated decreased funding. Later in the meeting, Chief Financial Officer TONY SCARDINO reported no changes had been made to fee estimates since the February 2015 PPAC meeting. In February Scardino reported that the full year working estimate for fees in FY2015 was $3.1421 billion. The USPTO was appropriated $3.458 billion for FY2015.
Scardino also reported that the USPTO is currently evaluating proposals and conducting analysis on potential “adjustments” to fees. A decision was expected by fall on whether to initiate the rulemaking process.