New York Trademark Attorney Blog
The most popular change at the United States Patent & Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is the fee reductions for trademark applications and trademark renewals. These reductions become effective on January 17, 2015. The Trademark Electronic Application System (“TEAS”) at the USPTO allows for two types of trademark application filings. One is the TEAS Plus application which requires the applicant to utilize an identification in the Trademark Manual of Acceptable Identifications and to provide very specific information in its filing. It is less expensive because it requires less of the Examining Attorney’s time. Further information regarding the TEAS Plus application can be found at Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (“TMEP”) §819.01.
The other is a TEAS application that permits the applicant to create its own identification for its goods or services in free text and allows more general information in the trademark application. However, the applicant must provide an email address and authorize the USPTO to send email correspondence relating to the trademark application for the duration of the application process. In addition, the applicant has to agree to electronically file through TEAS for certain submissions, such as voluntary amendments, responses to office actions (except notices of appeal), requests for reconsideration of final Office Actions, appointment or revocation of a power of attorney, and appointment or revocation of a domestic representative. The USPTO is referring to this filing option as TEAS Reduced Fee (TEAS RF) application.
An applicant that files a TEAS RF application, but does not satisfy the requirements will be mandated to submit an additional processing fee of $50.00 per international class of goods or services. The following types of trademark applications are eligible for TEAS RF: (1) Trademark/Service Mark Application, Principal Register; (2) Trademark/Service Mark Application, Supplemental Register; (3) Certification Mark Application; (4) Collective Membership Mark Application; (5) Collective Trademark/Service Mark Application, and (6) Transformation Requests. For more details see the USPTO’s webpage on the Reduced Fee initiative.