This should be important to every business and brand.
Starting January 18, 2025, it will be more expensive and more difficult to thoroughly protect your trademarks.
The summary is, you should revisit your trademark protection now, to make sure you have thoroughly protected all your trademarks. In addition, you should file, now, any marks that you plan on using in the future.
Most importantly, the USPTO will implement a $200 per-class charge to use the free-form text box to describe/identify the goods and services, instead of those specific IDs approved by the USPTO as located in the Trademark ID Manual.
What this means is that you will be charged more for your trademark applications if you do not describe the goods and services by selecting from the pre-defined descriptions provided by the USPTO.
In my opinion, this is a very negatively impactful change because the goods and services offered by many companies simply do not fit neatly within the pre-defined boxes provided by the USPTO. This means that many applicants will have to settle for one of two unpalatable options:
- Select the best pre-defined options provided by the USPTO, which may not provide the most accurate or thorough description of the goods and services your company offers, or
- Pay a lot more to file your trademark applications but have an accurate and thorough description of goods and services.
In addition, there is a surcharge of $200 per class for every 1,000 characters beyond the first 1,000 characters. Again, this limits your ability to thoroughly describe your goods and services without having to pay additional fees.
Further Details on the New Filing System
The new trademark fee system eliminates the old application filing methods, TEAS Standard and TEAS Plus, in favor of one base application. The base application will cost $350 per class and is subject to new surcharges based on the application’s complexity.
There is a $200 surcharge per class for using free-form identification of goods and services language as opposed to constructing goods and services language using pre-approved wording directly from the USPTO ID Manual. Additionally, when using free-form goods and services language, there is a $200 surcharge per class for every 1,000 characters beyond the first 1,000 characters. Lastly, there is a $100 surcharge per class for failing to provide required information at the time of filing.
Not only will these new fees cause applicants to pay more for their trademark applications, but they will also have significant impacts on the consideration and strategy that goes into filing each individual trademark application.
Post-Registration Fees
Post-registration maintenance fees are also set to increase.
This includes Sections 8 and 71 (Use), Section 9 (Renewal), and Section 15 (Incontestability) filings. Sections 8 and 71 filings will cost $325 per class, up from $225. Section 9 filings will cost $325 per class, up from $300. Lastly, Section 15 filings will cost $250 per class, up from $200. These post-registration fees can typically be paid anytime within a one-year period, such as a Section 8 filing being due between five and six years after the date of registration of the mark.
Given that there are windows of time where fees can be paid for registered trademarks, if any of your marks are within a filing window for filing any post-registration maintenance fees, you should consider having those fees paid ahead of the date of the increase.
Other fees are also increasing. These fees include those associated with filing a statement of use, a letter of protest, a petition to the director, and a petition to revive an application.
Summary
To avoid excess filing fees, all business owners should consider filing any potential trademark applications ahead of the increased and new fee schedule taking effect January 18, 2025. At minimum, I recommend business owners seek the counsel of a qualified trademark attorney to review and audit their trademark portfolio (or lack thereof) and provide recommendations for getting additional trademark applications on file before these changes take effect and the fees increase. In addition, if an owner of a registered trademark is within the window to file any post-registration maintenance fees, to save money, these should be paid before the fees go up!
You can learn more about these changes here:
If you have any questions regarding trademark applications or need help with trademark registrations, trademark strategy or trademark litigation, please contact Chris Proskey, Intellectual Property Attorney at the BrownWinick Law Firm.
