Will these changes affect your trademark portfolio?
Effective January 18, 2025, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will increase trademark fees affecting most future trademark application and registration filing costs. This increase is due to the USPTO’s biennial review that periodically adjusts the fee schedule to provide the USPTO with sufficient resources to fund and administer the U.S. trademark system.
The changes reflect expected price increases for typical filings such as allegations of use, post-registration maintenance and renewal fees, petitions to the director, and letters of protest. The most significant change is a single unified electronic application base filing option that will cost $350 per class. This base filing option will replace the previous separated two filing options, TEAS Plus at $250 per class fee and TEAS Standard at $350 per class fee.
In addition to the $350 base filing cost, there may be new surcharge fees added for failing to meet the requirements of the base application or adding in custom identifications for goods and services descriptions. Insufficient information will incur a $100 per class fee. Common information missing from applications includes English translations, color claim for design marks, prior ownership of registrations for the same mark under a different owner, and designation of a U.S. attorney. The custom identification of goods and services or additional group of 1,000 characters beyond the first 1,000 characters will incur a $200 per class fee.
