The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has proposed changes to fees for trademark applicants. The proposed rule will raise most fees and increase the number of applicants using the Trademark ID Manual rather than using a free-form textbox when applying for trademarks. Advocacy held a small business roundtable and conducted extensive outreach on this proposed rule. Based on feedback from small businesses and their stakeholders, Advocacy filed the following comments:
- Small businesses expressed concern with the Trademark ID Manual and implored the USPTO to better refine the current Trademark ID Manual.
- The proposed rule would disproportionately increase downstream fees on services such as using a free-form textbox rather than the Trademark ID Manual, along with steep raises on the letter of protest and the petition to revive application fees.
- The USPTO should consider some of the less burdensome alternatives to the proposed rule such as uniformly increasing all fees by only 27% or changing fees so they are proportional to the actual work exerted by the USPTO.
- Small businesses expressed a need for the USPTO to provide further guidance to help submit trademark applications while avoiding unnecessary fees.
For more information, please contact Assistant Chief Counsel David Mullis at 202-830-2292 or david.mullis@sba.gov.
Document
Comment Letter – Setting and Adjusting Trademark Fees (PDF, 58.1 KB)