The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a final rule that delays until January 1, 2023, the effective date of the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.16(u) for any nonprovisional utility patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111, including any continuing application, that is not filed in DOCX format. Prior to this final rule, the fee was set to take effect on January 1, 2022. The delay will enable the USPTO to undertake enhanced testing of its information technology systems as more users file in DOCX, and it also will give applicants more time to adjust to filing patent applications in DOCX format.
You can find the full text of the final rule in the Federal Register and on the USPTO’s Patent Related Notices webpage.