November 2020

USPTO Announces Trademark Filing Fee Increases Effective January 2, 2021

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced that it will be adjusting some trademark prosecution, trademark maintenance and Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) filing fees for the first time in nearly three years, effective January 2, 2021. The majority of the changes are fee increases.

Among these adjustments, those that will most commonly impact CSG clients are:

• Certain fees associated with filing and maintaining trademark and service mark applications and registrations will increase. For example:

  • Standard trademark applications will cost $350 per class - up from $275 per class.

  • The cost to electronically file a Section 8 Declaration, which is periodically required in order to maintain federal registrations, will increase to $225 per class – up from $125 per class.

• Certain fees associated with proceedings before the TTAB will also increase. For example:

  • Fees for electronically filing a petition to cancel or a notice of opposition will increase to $600 per class – up from $400 per class.

  • Fees to file some requests for extensions of time to oppose the registration of pending trademark applications will double.

The USPTO continues to encourage the use of electronic filing by keeping electronic filing fees lower than the fees associated with paper filings.

The full schedule of fee changes can be viewed here.

If you have any questions about how these fee adjustments may affect you, please contact your CSG attorney or one of the authors below.