Effective January 18, 2025, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") will increase trademark filing fees as follows:
- Filing fees for all applications (except WIPO International Registration extensions/designations) will be a uniform US $350 per class. There will no longer be a discount for using PTO pre-approved descriptions of goods and services. In addition, there will be a new penalty fee of US $100 per class for all applications (except WIPO International Registration extensions/designations) which include insufficient filing information.
- For WIPO International Registration extensions/designations, the per class fee will increase from US $500 to $600. This increase will be implemented for applications with a receipt date on or after February 18, 2025.
- The PTO is providing significant discounts for applicants which adopt descriptions of pre-set goods and services from its Trademark ID Manual. For all applications (except WIPO International Registration extensions/designations), using free-form text to identify goods and services, rather than goods and services in the Trademark ID Manual, will incur a new US $200 fee per class, and each additional group of 1,000 characters (including punctuation and spaces) entered into the free-form text box will be charged a new US $200 fee.
- Post-registration maintenance fees will rise from between US $25 and $100.
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Filing Current Fee New Fee Section 9 renewal application per class (filed every 10 years after registration) US $300 $325 Section 8 declaration of use per class (filed between 5th and 6th years after registration) US $300 Section 15 declaration of incontestability per class US $200 $250 Section 71 declaration of use (WIPO IR) per class (filed between 5th and 6th years
after registration and again every 10 years after registration)*US $225 $325 Renewal fee filed with WIPO per class* US $300 $325 - Letters of protest will increase from US $50 to $150. Petitions to the Director will increase from US $250 to $400.
- Amendments to allege use and statements of use will increase from US $100 per class to $150 per class.
Recommended Plan of Action
- Review upcoming trademark deadlines to file maintenance documents before the increases and budget for additional costs for 2025 filings.
- Consider using preapproved lists of goods and services from the Trademark ID Manual to save on costs.
- File complete applications to avoid penalties for incomplete information.
- Consider filing new applications before the increases.
- Contact your CLL attorney for specific guidance.
*The fee increase will take place on or after February 18, 2025.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
