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RCEs Are Rising at the USPTO: The Inventory of Pending RCEs Doubled in a Year, a Workload Trend Rather Than a New Rule

A clipboard on a desk whose sheet bears a circular cycle arrow, beside it a row of identical folders standing in sequence, symbolising rising requests for continued examination at the USPTO and a growing pending inventory

Recent industry commentary points to a marked rise in Requests for Continued Examination (RCEs) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), attributed in part to the Office's drive to cut the backlog of new applications, which has pushed more cases into the post-first-action stage, and the USPTO's own Patents Dashboard bears this out. According to Dashboard data through August 2026, cumulative RCE filings in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026 reached 143,060, up about 14% from 125,408 in the same period of the previous fiscal year, and the inventory of RCEs awaiting a first action rose from 14,613 in August 2025 to 30,520 in August 2026, more than doubling in a year.

Over the same period the unexamined inventory of new applications fell from 800,559 to 756,110 and traditional first action pendency shortened from 22.8 to 20.6 months, while cumulative final rejections grew from 183,406 to 205,777, an increase of about 12%; the average wait from an RCE filing to the next Office action held at 1.9 months, and total pendency including RCEs lengthened from 30.8 to 33.7 months.

An analysis by Dennis Crouch published on the patent commentary site Patently-O on 23 September counts nearly 150,000 RCEs filed in published utility applications in the 12 months to August 2026, up 13% year on year and reversing a five-year decline; the author attributes the rise mainly to the USPTO mailing more final rejections and to the end of the free After Final Consideration Pilot 2.0 (AFCP 2.0) on 14 December 2024, after which some applicants go straight to an RCE.

Under the USPTO's current fee schedule, in force since 19 January 2025, the first RCE costs 1,500 dollars and the second and subsequent RCEs 2,860 dollars, increases of 10% and 43% respectively, yet the RCE filing rate is still rising.

It should be stressed that this is a shift in examination workload and filing strategy, not a new USPTO rule on RCEs; the Dashboard continues to publish the RCE inventory, RCE filings and post-RCE waiting times, which serve as tracking indicators.

For companies filing in the United States it means that final rejections are more common, RCE fees are higher and AFCP 2.0 is no longer available, so Office action response strategy and budgets need to be recalibrated.

J&C recommends that, on receiving a US final rejection, applicants weigh three routes according to the value of the case: an RCE with amended claims, an appeal without further amendment, or an after-final response aimed at allowance; that substantive amendments and examiner interviews be pursued at the first non-final rejection to reduce the chance of a final rejection; and that budgets reserve for a possible RCE at 1,500 dollars for the first and 2,860 dollars thereafter plus attorney fees, with the Dashboard's RCE inventory and waiting-time data used to set client expectations on timing.

Source: www.uspto.gov | www.uspto.gov | www.uspto.gov | www.uspto.gov

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