USPTO CAF Fees in 2026: Check Your 2020 Patent Families

Back to News & Insights

You’ve kept a continuation pending in your oldest patent family so you’d have something to file when a competitor ships a version of your product. Good call. Now check the date on the first US or PCT application in that family. If it was filed in 2020, every new continuation you file after its six-year anniversary will cost you an extra $2,700 in USPTO fees ($1,080 if you qualify as a small entity).

The Continuing Application Fee (CAF) is a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) fee for continuing applications filed more than six years after their earliest benefit date. The CAF fee took effect January 19, 2025, and the fee remains in effect in 2026 at the same amounts.

In 2026, the six-year mark arrives for patent families with a 2020 Earliest Benefit Date (EBD), and the nine-year mark arrives for families that date back to 2017. The USPTO also changed its rules in August 2026 for petitions based on unintentional delay, which affects applicants who miss the deadline for presenting a benefit claim.

Our attorneys hold engineering and science degrees and focus on patent prosecution and intellectual property strategy for technology-driven companies.

Call NK Patent Law at (919) 348-2194 or contact us online to discuss your patent strategy.

What is the Continuing Application Fee?

The CAF fee (37 CFR 1.17(w)) applies to utility, plant, and design continuing applications (continuations, divisionals, and CIPs) with an actual filing date more than six years after their Earliest Benefit Date (EBD). It also applies to national stage applications under 35 U.S.C. § 371 and to bypass continuations when a benefit claim under 35 U.S.C. § 120 and § 365(c) goes back more than six years.

The fee structure is tiered:

  • First tier. Applications filed more than 6 years but not more than 9 years after their EBD: $2,700 (§1.17(w)(1))
  • Second tier. Applications filed more than 9 years after their EBD: $4,000 (§1.17(w)(2))

Small entity applicants pay reduced amounts. The first-tier fee is $1,080 for small entities. The second-tier fee is $1,600 for small entities. These amounts are unchanged from 2025 on the current USPTO fee schedule.

If the patent family covers something you sell today, it’s probably worth paying the CAF fee. A pending continuation is how you write claims that read on what your competitor actually built, and $2,700 is generally less than the typical cost of one Office Action response. If the family covers last year’s product and nobody’s copying it, this may be a good time to let the family close, rather than pay the CAF fee.

The catch here is that the clock doesn’t reset. The CAF fee is determined from the earliest US or PCT application in the chain, not from the immediate parent application, and it applies for every application you file past the cutoff date in that chain. A continuation of a continuation of a 2020 filing is still a 2020 family. Past nine years, the CAF fee goes to $4,000.

What Changed for 2026

For a continuation, you have the later of four months from its filing date or sixteen months from the parent’s filing date to present a benefit claim. After that period, the benefit claim can only be added through a petition, which requires a petition fee in addition to any CAF fee that applies.

If your continuation goes in without a proper benefit claim, it doesn’t get the parent’s filing date. You can fix that by petition, but the cheap window got shorter. Since August 13, 2026, if you file that petition more than a year after the claim was due, you pay the higher petition fee ($3,000 instead of $2,260 for a large entity) and you have to explain the delay. That used to kick in at two years (91 Fed. Reg. 37826, June 24, 2026). If the family is past six years, the CAF fee is due on top of the petition fee.

How can you plan for this? Pull the filing receipt for each pending application. Under “Domestic Priority data,” find the earliest US or PCT filing date (ignore provisionals and foreign filings because they don’t count for the EBD). Add six years, then add three more years to that (to get to nine years from the EBD). Put both dates on the calendar for every patent family that you might want to keep alive.

Key Concepts to Understand

Earliest Benefit Date (EBD)

The EBD is the earliest filing date for which a benefit is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120, § 121, § 365(c), or § 386(c).

  • EBD is determined on an application-by-application basis
  • Foreign priority applications (35 U.S.C. § 119(a)) do NOT count toward determining the EBD
  • Provisional applications (35 U.S.C. § 119(e)) do NOT count toward determining the EBD
  • For utility and plant applications, the EBD is also the date from which the 20-year patent term is calculated under 35 U.S.C. § 154(a)(2)

When is the CAF Fee Due?

Payment is required when presenting a benefit claim that makes the EBD more than six years earlier than the filing date.

  • If the claim is presented at filing, the fee is due at filing
  • If the claim is presented later, the fee is due concurrently with presenting the claim

Example: A non-provisional application filed on July 1, 2026, claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to a non-provisional application filed on March 2, 2020. The EBD is more than six but not more than nine years before the filing date, so the $2,700 first-tier (six-year) fee is due at filing

Non-Payment Consequences

If the CAF fee is not paid when due, the USPTO will not enter the benefit claim. This is the same consequence as for other deficiencies under §1.78(d). You should verify that your benefit claims have been entered by checking the application’s Filing Receipt.

Can You Pay the CAF Fee Later?

Although it is technically possible, it is not a good idea because you lose the benefit claim until you re-present it with the CAF fee. When an application presents several benefit claims at filing and the CAF fee is not paid, the USPTO leaves out the benefit claims that require the CAF fee. Benefit claims that do not trigger the CAF fee are still entered, and the EBD becomes the filing date of the earliest entered claim.

This matters for continuing applications filed without fees, where the filing fees are paid later in response to a Notice to File Missing Parts. The CAF fee is due when the benefit claim is presented, so a benefit claim in an application data sheet (ADS) filed without the CAF fee will not be entered. To restore it, you must present the benefit claim again in a corrected ADS along with payment of the CAF fee. Doing so within the 37 CFR 1.78(d)(3) period avoids the need for a petition.

Edge Cases Your IP Counsel Will Ask About

These come up less often, but if you have in-house IP counsel, they’ll want them.

  • Applications filed before January 19, 2025. Benefit claims you’d already properly presented don’t trigger the CAF fee. Add a new benefit claim now, and the CAF fee is due if the application was filed more than six years after its EBD. That’s true even if the new claim doesn’t change the EBD.
  • Adding an older parent later. The CAF fee is charged once per application, not once per benefit claim. If you paid $2,700 at filing and later add a claim that pushes the EBD past nine years, you owe the $1,300 difference.
  • Reissues. A reissue that carries over the benefit claims from the original patent doesn’t owe the CAF fee, because the USPTO waived it for those. Add any other benefit claim and it does. A continuation of a reissue will likely owe it, because its claim to the parent reissue is new.
  • Fixing an issued patent. Adding a missing benefit claim by Certificate of Correction means you pay:
    • the CAF fee, if the application was filed more than six years after its EBD;
    • the petition fee, with the petition; and
    • the Certificate of Correction fee.
  • Provisionals claimed under §120. A provisional normally doesn’t count toward the EBD. If you claim it under §120 instead of §119(e), it does count, and it can shorten your patent term. Don’t.
  • Weekend and holiday anniversaries. If the six-year date lands on a weekend or federal holiday, you can file the next business day and owe no CAF fee. If the nine-year date does, you pay the $2,700 tier instead of $4,000.

Planning Tips if You Have Older Patent Families Pending

  1. Review your pending applications: Identify patent families whose EBD is approaching its six-year anniversary.
  2. Check filing receipts: Always verify that benefit claims have been entered correctly.
  3. Calculate fees carefully: When presenting multiple benefit claims or adding claims after initial filing, ensure you’ve calculated the correct fee amount.
  4. Act on missed benefit claims quickly: For petitions filed since August 13, 2026, a delay of more than one year now requires additional information and the higher petition fee, in addition to any required CAF fee.

Speak with a Patent Attorney

Continuing applications are a common part of patent prosecution and a common way to build out a patent portfolio, and the CAF fee adds a cost that depends on timing. Reviewing each family’s EBD before the six-year mark leaves the most room to plan continuation strategy without the fee.

Call NK Patent Law at (919) 348-2194or contact us online to discuss your continuing application strategy.

About NK Patent Law

NK Patent Law is a patent prosecution and intellectual property strategy boutique. We work with technology-driven companies from early development through commercialization, providing business-partner-level attention from experienced attorneys and sophisticated IP counsel without large-firm pricing. Our team has secured 2,100+ issued patents and 1,000+ registered trademarks for clients in 36 U.S. states, with international filings in 27 countries. Visit us at www.nkpatentlaw.com to learn more.