Patent Pending

The applicant(s), each inventor, and any other party with an ownership interest in the invention (e.g., assignees, licensees and obligated assignees or licensees) qualify under 37 CFR 1.27 as: (1) a small business concern as defined in 37 CFR 1.27(a)(2) which, including affiliates, has fewer than 500 employees, (2) a nonprofit organization as defined in 37 CFR 1.27(a)(3), or (3) an individual who has not assigned, licensed or otherwise conveyed or promised to convey an interest in the invention to a non-small entity

Neither the applicant nor the inventor nor a joint inventor has been named as an inventor on more than four previously filed applications as explained in MPEP section 509.01(I)(B) with certain conditions and exceptions. See also section 2.2;For purposes of establishing micro entity status under the gross income basis, the application filing limit as set forth in 37 CFR 1.29(a)(2) includes: (i) previously filed U.S. nonprovisional applications (e.g., utility, design, plant, continuation, and divisional applications), (ii) previously filed U.S. reissue applications, (iii) previously filed U.S. national stage applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), and (iv) previously filed international design applications under the Hague agreement that designate the U.S. It does not matter how long ago the previous applications were filed or whether the previously filed applications are pending, patented, or abandoned; they are still included when counting to determine whether the application filing limit has been reached. It also does not matter whether the previous applications asserted entitlement to micro entity status; they are still included even if they did not claim any discounts (i.e., paid the undiscounted fee amounts). All such applications naming the inventor or a joint inventor are counted toward the application filing limit. Any non-inventor applicant(s) who is a person rather than a corporation or other type of juristic entity, must also meet the application filing limit. Note however the section 1.29(b) exception based on prior employment.

The "Maximum Qualifying Gross Income" for purposes of paying any eligible fee at the micro entity discount rate, as of September 9, 2025 to present, is $251,190.

Are there more than two inventors?