When must an applicant pay excess claims fees for newly added claims?
Applicants must pay excess claims fees for newly added claims before the examiner will consider them. MPEP 714.10 states:
When applicant adds a new excess claim that is in excess of the number of claims that were previously paid for after taking into account claims that have been canceled, applicant must pay the required excess claims fees before the examiner considers the new claim.
This means that if you add claims that exceed the previously paid-for limit, even after accounting for canceled claims, you must pay the new excess claims fees before the patent examiner will review those additional claims.
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