USPTO To Raise Trademark Filing Fees Effective January 2, 2021

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) first announced that trademark filing fees would be increasing in August 2019 but delayed rolling out the increase due to the pandemic. Late this summer, the new Commissioner of Trademarks announced that the increase would become effective January 2, 2021 without announcing the specific fee structure. The USPTO has not raised fees since 2017. Although new trademark application filings are at an all-time high, and many small businesses are still recovering from the pandemic, the USPTO reports that this fee increase is necessary to allow the USPTO and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to continue to operate efficiently and offer timely customer service to trademark owners. Both members of the trademark bar and industry trade groups had an opportunity to comment on the proposed fees over the past year, and in some instances, the USPTO took those comments into consideration before adopting the final schedule of fees. Because of the USPTO’s strong preference (and in some instances requirement) for electronic filing , we do not address any of the fees for paper filings in our summary. For more information or questions on the fee increase, please contact us or review the notice of final rule making here.

Trademark Application Fees

It will cost more to file a trademark application in 2021 and to maintain a trademark registration.  Trademark application filing fees are increasing from $25 and $50 per class depending on whether the application is filed based utilizing only the identifications listed in the identification manual or utilizing a more customized identification. Fees for Madrid Protocol applications are also increasing $100 per class. Fees associated with forms specific to intent to use applications will remain unchanged.

For those applicants who need to file a Petition to Revive an application, the fee will increase by $50.

For trademark owners wanting to maintain their registrations, Section 8 and 71 Declarations of Continued Use are increasing by $100 per class. If you have any maintenance deadlines that can be renewed now, you may wish to take advantage of the current fee structure before the end of the year.

A new fee of $50 will be imposed for all Letters of Protest that are filed to help the USPTO handle the influx of Letters of Protest received from third parties that often have no real interest or standing in a particular trademark application.

While it has always been a best practice to maintain and renew only those goods and services that are in use for a registration, in November 2017, the USPTO launched a random audit program to ensure the integrity of the trademark register. Trademark registrations that do not prove use for all the listed goods and services can be audited and ultimately cancelled if proof of use is not established for each and every good or service listed in the registration. Under the new fee structure, if a trademark owner cannot prove use after a Declaration of Use is submitted and must delete a good or service from its registration, a new fee of $250 per class will be levied against the registration. Hopefully, this will incentivize trademark owners to submit the proper proof of use at the Section 8 or 71 filing stage.

Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Fees

Costs for appeals and enforcement are also going up. The fees for filing an ex parte appeal are increasing slightly to $225 per class. There are also new fees to file subsequent extensions of time to file appeal briefs of $100 per application and a new fee to file the appeal brief of $200 per class.

For contentious proceedings, there currently is no cost to file an initial extension of time to oppose an application for 30 days and that fee will remain unchanged. Under the new fee structure, fees will increase by $100 for the additional extension of time to oppose an application. The costs to file an opposition or cancellation proceeding are also increasing $200 per class.  However, a new partial refund policy is being implemented in cancellation proceedings where abandonment or non-use is plead, and a default judgment is issued, and no appearance or other filings are entered.  In such a case, the petitioner is entitled to a partial refund of $200 per class, which is the cost of the increase. In the final rule making, the USPTO said it did not want to discourage trademark owners from bringing these types of actions.

If a trademark owner wants to request an oral argument for either an ex parte appeal or a contention proceeding, a new fee of $500 will apply.

Summary Chart of USPTO Trademark Fee Increases Starting January 2, 2021

The chart below summarizes the fees above. For more information or questions, please contact us or review the notice of final rule making here. If you have any upcoming maintenance or renewal deadlines in the first three to six months of 2021 that you would like to file before the end of the year to save money, please contact us so we can assist you with your filings. Similarly, if you would like to file a new trademark application, now may be the time to before the fee increase takes effect.

*Note: All fees noted above are for electronically filed documents through TEAS or ESTTA

Stacey Kalamaras

Stacey C. Kalamaras is the founding partner of Kalamaras Law Office, LLC. She has extensive intellectual property experience with a particular focus on trademark prosecution and enforcement. She has protected some the world’s largest brands in more than 150 countries and specializes in helping small and medium sized businesses grow and protect their brands. Contact her at info@klolegal.com.

Stacey is also the founder and lead instructor of Trademarkabilities®, an online trademark academy for lawyers, whose mission it is to prepare lawyers to be confident and effective practitioners before the USPTO. To learn more, please visit https://www.trademarkabilities.com/.