Small Entity Status
In United States patent law, those applying for a patent, i.e. applicants, and patentees may claim a particular status depending on the number of their employees. The fees to be paid to the patent office depend on the applicant's status. The statuses include the "large entity" status and the "small entity" status. The "micro entity" status is a further status, which was introduced with the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA), enacted in 2011.
The small entity status allows small businesses, independent inventors, nonprofit organizations to file a patent application and maintain an issued patent for a reduced fee—a 50% reduction. Under 13 CFR 121.802(a), an entity qualifies as a "small business concern," and so qualifies for small entity status, if its number of employees, including affiliates, does not exceed 500 persons. If an organization or individual qualifies for small entity status, claiming such status is relatively simple. The person seeking such status needs to simply file a verified statement in the patent application prior to paying the first fee as a small entity. Any subsequent payments only need to include a statement where such status has changed.
Read more about Small Entity Status: Loss of Status, Micro Entity Status
Famous quotes containing the words small, entity and/or status:
“The gods attend to great matters, they neglect small ones.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“What is this world of ours? A complex entity subject to sudden changes which all indicate a tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings which follow one another, assert themselves and disappear; a fleeting symmetry; a momentary order.”
—Denis Diderot (1713–1784)
“A genuine Left doesn’t consider anyone’s suffering irrelevant or titillating; nor does it function as a microcosm of capitalist economy, with men competing for power and status at the top, and women doing all the work at the bottom.... Goodbye to all that.”
—Robin Morgan (b. 1941)