The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will begin implementing statutory penalties for falsely made assertions or certifications of small and micro entity status, as part of the USPTO’s continuing efforts to mitigate threats to the U.S. patent system and to protect that system’s integrity.
As required by statute, the USPTO will assess a fine of not less than three times the amount an entity failed to appropriately pay the USPTO when the entity is found to have falsely made an assertion or certification of small or micro entity status, unless the entity shows that the assertion or certification was made in good faith.
The USPTO will begin issuing a combined notice of payment deficiency and order to show cause as to why a fine should not be assessed when the USPTO makes a preliminary determination that a pending patent application or patent contains a false assertion or certification that resulted in the payment of at least one fee in an unentitled reduced amount. The agency will issue a subsequent notice to provide a final determination of whether a fine is being assessed, and the fine amount, based on any timely response to the combined notice and order to show cause, and the record as a whole.
You can find more information in the Official Gazette Notice available on the USPTO’s Patent Related Notices webpage.