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The USPTO has a 'menu' of services that one can purchase. I suspect that a patent search and exam is required when a utility patent:

  1. Why and when is each mandatory service performed? What are said mandatory services for a utility patent application?
  2. When are said service fees due? At filing of the NPA?
  3. If I do not understand the description of the line-item service (Reissue?), where is a good online resource to find clarification?
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There is a fee schedule for the USPTO's services. There are fees to file a PPA and more expensive fees for an NPA. Generally, fees are lower for smaller entities. There is a micro-entity fee and a small entity fee for most fee items. There are fees related to appeals, to requesting an IPR, and to a reissue application.

Generally fees are due at filing although, depending upon the fee, they can be delayed for an additional surcharge.

There is a process called reissue that allows the patent owner to declare that their granted patent is deficient in some way and get a re-examination, often involving amending the claims. You can't expand beyond the original disclosure and the defect can be "I didn't claim as broadly as I could have claimed."

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