USPTO already set its budget and fee-increase schedule based on projected application rates – plan can only skew that

This proposed rule would apply to any entity filing trademark documents with the USPTO. The USPTO estimates, based on the assumptions in the FY 2025 Budget, that during the first full fiscal year under the fees as proposed (FY 2026), the USPTO would collect approximately $144 million more in trademark processing and TTAB fees compared to projected fee collections under the current fee schedule. The USPTO would receive an additional $99 million in application filing fees, including applications filed through the Madrid Protocol and application surcharges; $4 million more from petitions, letters of protest, and requests for reconsideration; $7 million more from SOU and AAU fees; and $35 million more for post-registration maintenance fees, including sections 9 and 66 renewals and sections 8, 71, and 15 declarations.

The USPTO collects fees for trademark-related services at different points in the trademark application examination process and over the registration life cycle. In FY 2023, application filing fees made up about 54% of all trademark fee collections. Fees for proceedings and appeals before the TTAB comprised 3% of revenues. Fees from other trademark activities, petitions, assignments and certifications, and Madrid processing totaled approximately 5% of revenues. Fees for post-registration and intent-to-use filings, which subsidize the costs of filing, search, examination, and the TTAB, comprised 38%.

The USPTO bases its five-year estimated aggregate trademark fee revenue on the number of trademark applications and other fee-related filings it expects for a given fiscal year; work it expects to process in a given fiscal year (an indicator of fees paid after the agency performs work, such as SOU fees); expected examination and process requests in a given fiscal year; and the expected number of post-grant decisions to maintain trademark protection in a given fiscal year. Within its iterative process for estimating aggregate revenue, the USPTO adjusts individual fee rates up or down based on policy and cost considerations and then multiplies the resulting fee rates by appropriate workload volumes to calculate a revenue estimate for each fee, which is then used to calculate aggregate revenue. Additional details about the USPTO's aggregate revenue, including projected workloads by fee, are available on the fee setting section of the USPTO website at https://www.uspto.gov/about-us/performance-and-planning/fee-setting-and-adjusting.