As a follow-up to my post on the new micro-entity screw-job of individual inventors, here is a copy of a letter I have sent to Patrick Leahy, Lamar Smith, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee.
One doesn’t expect any results from letters like this, but at least I have fulfilled whatever duty I may have to at least try and bring the mess to the attention of the folks who made it.
For several years there have been two categories of U.S. patent applicants and patent holders. The small entity folks pay one price for most fees, and the large entity folks pay twice that.
Under the AIA 2011 a third category appears — the micro-entity. The micro-guy pays half of the small-guy’s fees. But this micro-program ain’t all it’s cracked up to be — unless you work for a university.
Here is a critique in The Patent Guy’s News and Views of the micro-entity program and what one has to do to obtain micro-status.