Which is the competent authority for US invention patent applications?

• Grant fee: The applicant shall pay the granted registration fee within 3 months after receiving the notification of granted decision.
• Annuity: Three annual fees shall be paid in the 3.5th year, 7.5 years and 11.5 years from the date of granted, and the payment may be postponed within 6 months after the overdue period, but 25% of the annual fee of the current year shall be paid at the same time as a penalty.

no

The USPTO conducts formal and substantive examinations of patent applications. The substantive examination starts automatically, and the applicant does not need to submit a separate substantive examination request. The applicant is obliged to disclose through the Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) details of information that has an impact on the patentability of the invention, including but not limited to prior art, publications, sales records, etc. This obligation extends to the announcement of the grant of the patent or the withdrawal of the patent application. Failure to disclose significant prior art may result in the patentee being unable to enforce the underlying patent.

• No official fee is required if the IDS is filed within three months from the filing date or before the first office action is issued.
• An additional official fee is payable if the information cited in the IDS appeared in a foreign patent application three months before the filing of the IDS, or if the applicant or the applicant's representative completed the invention three months ago

1-1.5 years

no

• via Paris Convention : 12 months from earliest priority date.
• via Nationalization of PCT : 30 months from the earliest priority date.

15 years

yes