Effective January 2, 2021, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) is adjusting certain trademark filing fees, post-registration fees and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board fees for the first time in nearly three years. These fee adjustments will have a direct effect on individuals and businesses who wish to register and enforce their marks.
Some of the pertinent fee adjustments include:
- Application and application-related fees
- TEAS Plus applications have more requirements up-front but offer a lower fee of $250/class (Increased from $225/class);
- The TEAS Standard filing option has fewer requirements up-front but you must eventually meet all the application requirements and pay a higher fee of $350/class (Increased from $275/class);
- Processing fee for failing to meet TEAS Plus requirements: $100/class (Reduced from $125/class).
- Post registration fees (to maintain issued registrations)
- Declaration of Continuing Use Under Section 8 or 71 Declaration: $225/class (Increased from $125/class);
- New fee for deleting goods and services in response to an audit or post-registration office action questioning whether goods or services are still in use under a mark: $250/class;
- Trademark Trial &Appeal Board fees
- Petition to Cancel a registration: $600/class (Increased from $400/class);
- Notice of Opposition: $600/class (Increased from $400/class);
- Initial 90-day extension request for filing a Notice of Opposition, or second 60-day extension request for filing a Notice of Opposition: $200 per application (Increased from $100 per application);
- There is still no fee for a first 30-day extension request for filing a Notice of Opposition.
- Final 60-day extension request for filing a Notice of Opposition: $400 per application (Increased from $200 per application);
- Ex parte appeal: $225/class (Increased from $200/class);
- New fee for second, and subsequent, requests for an extension of time to file an Appeal Brief in an ex parte appeal: $100 per application (There is still no fee for a first request.);
- New fee for appeal briefs in an ex parte appeal: $200/class;
- New fee for requests for oral hearings: $500 per proceeding.
- Petition to the USPTO Director and Letter of Protest fees
- Petition to the Director: $250 (Increased from $100);
- Petition to revive an abandoned application: $150 (Increased from $100);
- New fee for Letter of Protest: $50 per application.
For a complete listing of all fee adjustments and reasoning behind the implementation, please reference the Final Rule. If you have any questions on how these changes affect your business, or wish to take action before the January 2, 2021 fee adjustments take effect, please contact Cheryl Clarkin (cclarkin@apslaw.com) to evaluate your options.
