Posts Tagged: "trademark fees"

Ready for 2021?  Beware Non-Use of Your Trademarks in 2020

Some businesses, as a result of the pandemic, have been pressed to discontinue manufacture or sale of products or have otherwise limited the scope of their business activities. As a result, in 2020 the use of one or more of the trademarks owned by your business may have stopped. Under U.S. trademark law, in the fifth year of a trademark registration term, and every ten years thereafter, a post-registration maintenance filing at the USPTO is required (e.g., evidence and a sworn statement about continuous trademark use in U.S. commerce). If sustained discontinuity of trademark use has occurred what options are available to keep a trademark registration active?

USPTO Publishes Final Rule Codifying Significant Trademark Fee Increases

The USPTO recently published a Final Rule setting new fees for trademark filings and TTAB proceedings, which will be effective January 2, 2021. The last time trademark fees were adjusted was about three years ago. The increases range from modest to fairly substantial. To file an application using the TEAS Plus option, the fee has increased from $225 per class to $250 per class, and the processing fee for failing to meet the TEAS Plus requirements has been reduced from $125 per class to $100 per class. However, the fee for TEAS Standard per class has jumped $75, from $275 to $350, which many trademark owners who commented found unreasonable.

USPTO Reduces Fees for Trademark Applications and Renewals

Yesterday, as authorized by the AIA, the USPTO published the final rule in the Federal Register that will work to reduce certain trademark fees. As you might expect, the USPTO explained in the Federal Register Notice that ”All commenters expressed support of the USPTO’s efforts to increase the volume of end-to-end electronic processing of trademark applications and agreed that the proposed fee reductions will make filing for individuals and smaller entities more accessible and promote greater efficiency through electronic filing and communication.”

USPTO Seeks Comment on Lowering Trademark Application Fees

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is seeking public comment on the possibility of adjusting trademark application fees, so as to lower the fees for all applicants willing to file and communicate electronically with the USPTO. The efficiencies achieved by trademark electronic filing and communications have put the USPTO in a position to potentially reduce the overall collection of trademark application fees, and the Office wishes to adjust the fees in a way that further promotes efficiency both for users and the USPTO. A Notice of Inquiry has been published in the Federal Register.