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The Incentives Lab
HBT-INC-0200 · Dimension INC · Incentives

Patent Office Fee Dependency

USPTO budget tied to grant fees encourages permissive examination.

Technology Perverse Pattern·Perverse Incentive·Grade C·draft· enriching…

Scientific Definition

USPTO budget tied to grant fees encourages permissive examination.

Plain-English Definition

USPTO budget tied to grant fees encourages permissive examination.

Feynman Explanation

Approve the patent, pay the office.

Core Principle

USPTO budget tied to grant fees encourages permissive examination.

Mechanisms

Psychological

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Economic

USPTO budget tied to grant fees encourages permissive examination.

Neurological

Pending editorial review.

Evolutionary

Pending editorial review.

Sociological

Self-funding regulators chase their funding source.

Computational

Pending editorial review.

Systems

Pending editorial review.

Inputs (Triggers)

Pending editorial review.

Outputs (Behaviors)

Pending editorial review.

Behavioral Signature

Approve the patent, pay the office.

Examples

Everyday
  • Documented grant-rate creep across decades.
Modern (Organizational)
  • Self-funding regulators chase their funding source.
Historical

Pending editorial review.

Famous Experiments

Pending editorial review.

Design Principles

  • Separation of funding from grant outcomes.

Measurement Approaches

Pending editorial review.

Evidence

Evidence Grade
C (A strongest → E speculative)
Replication
★★★☆☆
Intervention Confidence
4 / 5
Consensus
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Limitations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Open Research Questions

Pending editorial review.

Primary References

Pending editorial review.

Signature Section

The Perverse Incentive Lens™

How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.

Exploitation
Self-funding regulators chase their funding source.
Amplifying Incentives
Self-funding regulators chase their funding source.
Org Failure Modes
Self-funding regulators chase their funding source.
Societal Failure Modes
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Ethical Considerations
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Redesign Strategies
Separation of funding from grant outcomes.
Diagnostic Questions
  • Separation of funding from grant outcomes.
Warning Signs

Pending editorial review.

Red Flags

Pending editorial review.

Intervention Playbook
Individual
Separation of funding from grant outcomes.
Team
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Organization
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Policy
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
AI Implications
Detection
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Measurement
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Mitigation
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).
Responsible Use
Pending editorial review (HBT v1.0 auto-seed).

Interactive Mini Network

Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.

HBT-INC-0200 · INC
Patent Office Fee Dependency
POABAd-Supported Busines…CHClickbait HeadlinesCTCopyright Term Exten…CMCreator Monetization…CDCustoms De Minimis L…DMData Monetization vs…EAEngagement-Maximizin…EPEngagement-Time Para…ISInfinite Scroll TrapNINotification Inflation

Knowledge Graph Neighbors

Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.

Version History

v1.1.0 · 2026-06-28Initial auto-seed from corpus.