Fee Reductions Coming for Trademarks

Black Friday may be over but the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) still has deals for trademark applicants and owners. Reduced fees for trademark applications and renewals are coming on January 17, 2015. Conditions may apply depending on the filing option applicants choose. The conditions mainly deal with whether applicants are filing electronically and how much information can be supplied at the beginning of the application process. So you get protection of your mark for less money - what is not to like?

You can have that trademark for just $225. That’s right, for just $225 per class you can have a brand new, mint condition, fresh out of the box trademark. The conditions for this TEAS Plus version are simple. All filing, communication and payments must be made electronically, and you have to select your identification of goods and services from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s rather extensive list (which you can search here). The USPTO also wants as much information supplied in advance as possible, such as translation of foreign certificates, information on previous registrations of the same mark by the same owner, and consent if using a name or portrait of actual individual and others. As long as a reasonable attempt has been made to supply that information then the TEAS Plus status is not lost even if some material has to be entered later from an Office Action or Examiner’s Amendment.

If your trademark requires a custom description of goods and services then the fee is $275. This is called a TEAS Reduced Fee option. All the same conditions still apply as far as filing electronically but there is more room for a unique product or service. With this option an applicant can come up with a description of goods or services that is not part of the USPTO’s list and still save some money.

Last of all is the original fee for a TEAS Regular application of $325. The TEAS Regular application still requires you to initially file electronically but electronic communication is not required on any subsequent communication, though supplying an e-mail address is strongly encouraged by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

A 10 year renewal filed electronically will also see a fee reduction. The Section 9 portion of a renewal will have its fee reduced by $100 per class. After January 17, 2015, a Section 8 & 9 renewal will be $400 per class.

For more information please feel free to visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office website. Head, Johnson and Kachigian, P.C. is happy to work with new applicants to determine the best trademark filing option for their product or service.

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