Notices of Allowance (NOA) mailed by the USPTO between September 9th and September 15th may list an incorrect issue fee amount that mistakenly incorporated the new fee rule. The new rule is effective October 2nd, 2020 and will only be reflected in Notices of Allowance sent on or after that date. In each affected case, the USPTO will mail a corrected NOA. The corrected NOA will contain the correct issue fee and reset the time period for payment. The USPTO will reach out to those who have already paid the issue fee with further guidance.
However, NOAs for international design applications that were mailed between September 9th and September 15th were not affected and the correct issue fee amounts were listed. Applicants are encouraged to respond to those NOAs normally.
As a reminder, the issue fees for Utility and Reissue applications will be increasing from $1,000 to $1,200 for undiscounted, $500 to $600 for small entity, and $250 to $300 for micro entity. Please see here for the current fee schedule and here for the schedule set to take effect on October 2nd, 2020.