FAQ

Patent  Answer

   Do I qualify as a Micro Entity, Small Entity, or Large Entity for patent applications at the USPTO?

The Patent Office classifies patent applications into one of three entity types or sizes: Micro Entities, Small Entities, and Large Entities. The government fees, and therefore our flat fees, depend on the entity type classification.

To establish the correct entity size for the parties associated with a patent application, the circumstances of the inventors, owners, and licensees of a patent application are considered. The relevant circumstances are summarized below. It is important to specify the correct entity type for your patent application because a court may deem a patent invalid based on an applicant claiming an incorrect entity size.

Micro Entity Qualifications

• Each inventor for the present patent application has not been named as an inventor on more than four nonprovisional patent applications.
• Each inventor or owner of the patent rights for the present patent application reported less than approximately $206,109 in gross income on his or her tax return in the most recent preceding calendar year.
  • Where an inventor files a joint tax return with his or her spouse, only the portion of the gross income on the joint return attributed to the inventor would be compared to the Micro Entity income limit, i.e., not the combined joint income of both spouses.
  • The income limit referenced above was current as of January 4, 2021, but is updated annually and may now be out of date. The current income limit is available at www.uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/micro-entity-status-gross-income-limit.
• The inventor or owner of the patent rights has fewer than 500 employees and is not presently licensing (or obligated to license) the patent rights to a company with more than 500 employees.

Small Entity Qualifications

• There are no limits on the number of prior patent applications.
• There are no income limits.
• The inventor or owner of the patent rights has fewer than 500 employees and is not presently licensing (or obligated to license) the patent rights to a company with more than 500 employees.

Large Entity Qualifications

• There are no limits on the number of prior patent applications.
• There are no income limits.
• The inventor or owner of the patent rights has 500 or more employees or is presently licensing (or obligated to license) the patent rights to a company with more than 500 employees.