Several months ago, I blogged about reduced micro-entity fees, which will soon be available for qualifying patent applicants. As discussed in this blog post, the micro-entity provisions may have a loophole to let anybody qualify for the 75% fee reduction, just by providing a license to a qualifying institution of higher education.

Back in November, I posted about the new micro entity fees that will eventually be available to qualifying entities as part of the America Invents Act. In that post, I discussed how the micro entity fees will only go into effect after the USPTO has followed the fee-setting process. Here is a recap of the fee-setting process from that post:

One of the changes brought about by the America Invents Act is a new status of patent applicant called the "micro entity." The idea is similar to the current "small entity" status granted to certain applicants--but instead of reducing fees by 50% (as for small entity applicants), the Act reduces certain patent fees by 75% for those applicants that qualify. So, who can qualify as a micro entity, and when do the changes go into effect?