TRADEMARK ELECTRONIC APPLICATION SYSTEM (TEAS)

http://www.uspto.gov/teas

ELECTRONIC FILING TIPS

1. Read the Up-Coming Enhancements Section, to learn about future improvements to TEAS, e.g., when new electronic forms will be available, or what enhancements are scheduled to be made to existing forms.

2. Read the Important Notices Section, which presents solutions to many frequently encountered problems.

3. Be careful to select the proper form. The USPTO receives a surprisingly large number of electronic inadvertent filings; e.g., a Section 8 & 15 instead of an intended Section 8 & 9.

4. Answer the questions in the initial Form Wizard (the first part of the electronic form) extremely carefully, because they tailor the sections for the complete form. E.g., if you wish to make a disclaimer, but fail to answer YES to the wizard question "Do you need to enter an additional statement," you will not see any place within the form to enter the disclaimer. Also, once within the form, if you realize you need to make a change to a wizard question, you will lose all of your existing form; i.e., once you go back to the initial wizard, you must begin the entire application process again.

5. If filing for a stylized or design mark, ensure that before even attempting to begin the electronic filing process that the required JPG image file is in the recommended pixel range [(250 to 944 pixels) x (250 x 944 pixels); e.g., a valid pixel dimension is 640 x 480 pixels, whereas 250 x 200 pixels would not be acceptable] and scanned at 300-350 DPI. If a JPG image is to be used for a specimen, registration certificate, evidence, or anything other than the mark, the pixel range should be approximately 2400 X 2400 pixels, in any direction and scanned at 300 DPI. The overall size of any attachment cannot exceed 5 megabytes. Be very careful NOT to confuse the images and attach an image meant to be a specimen as the mark image, because in most instances this cannot be cured through an amendment, since it would be considered a "material alteration" of the mark as filed.

The TEAS forms accept PDF files (in addition to JPG files) for the following: evidence, specimens, foreign registration certificates, consents, miscellaneous information, and handwritten pen-and-ink signatures. However, a mark image is only acceptable in the JPG format. For PDF guidelines, see http://www.uspto.gov/teas/pdfguidelines.html.

6. If scanning any image that is to be a black-and-white image, the scanner must be set specifically for black-and-white, not color. I.e., if the improper setting is used, the produced image may appear to be black-and-white, but will actually consist of thousands of colors, and will result in an image of unacceptable quality when received at the USPTO. In addition, images with thousands of colors may exceed the 5 megabyte limitation mentioned in number 5, above. Sometimes it is not possible to save a pure black-and-white image. If you find that you cannot save a pure black-and-white image of your mark or other attachment, you should save the image with just enough colors to retain the image that you want to submit to the office. The images must be saved in an RGB color format, because the USPTO cannot process images that are saved in a CYMK color format.
On the other hand, color images should be scanned in color. You can submit color images saved with 256 bits. However, you may need to reduce the image to 16 bits, if the image exceeds 2 megabytes.

7. For lengthy recitations of goods and/or services, prepare the listing first as a Word or Word Perfect document, to be able to use the spell-check feature (which TEAS does not have). However, please note that, to avoid the introduction of unwanted characters in the TEAS form, which sometimes results from cutting-and- pasting from a Word or Word Perfect document into TEAS, first convert the document to the plain text format, using the "save as" and "save as type" features of Word or Word Perfect.

8. If using the signature option wherein the form is sent to a third party via e-mail for signature, be very careful to enter the proper e-mail address of both the intended signatory and the ultimate filer of the application. If the provided attorney e-mail is incorrect, once the application is signed, it will not be returned successfully to the attorney for final submission to the USPTO. You will NOT receive an "Undeliverable" notice where an incorrect e-mail address has been provided; instead, that notice bounces back to the USPTO, since it originates from the USPTO server. An attempt will be made to re-send the e-mail where the nature of the error is clear (e.g., a listing of .co instead of .com), but that is not always possible and should not be relied upon, especially given the very large number of electronic filings.

NOTE: You may wish to first send all e-signature requests directly to yourself, and then forward the resulting e-mail to the intended signatory. With this alternative approach, you would receive any "undeliverable" notice, and as such, immediately be aware when a problem exists with the signatory's e-mail. Similarly, you would be alerted should an error exist in your own e-mail, which would otherwise prevent delivery of the completed e-signature request. Otherwise, any such notices are delivered to the TEAS mailbox, and while the support staff attempts to determine a proper address for forwarding purposes, this is not always possible.

9. Once a form is successfully validated (i.e., the system has confirmed that an entry has been made for all mandatory fields), a Validation Page is displayed. From this page, the information that will be transmitted to the USPTO can easily be reviewed in various formats, e.g., in the simple INPUT TABLE format, and printed through the browser function, if necessary for firm records. It is critical to confirm at this point that all information is correct, because this is the data that will upload to the USPTO databases. All attached images must be the correct image files; e.g., if a specimen image file has been mistakenly attached as the mark, this most likely cannot be amended later in prosecution. In addition, you should confirm that all of the information you want to process is visible on the validation page. If you cannot see everything you want to submit to the office on the validation page, you should not submit your form. Instead you should try the process again, or contact Teas@uspto.gov.
NOTE: Images may appear huge when opened from the links on the Validation Page, and you may not be able to print them in the proper dimensions from that page (i.e., the mark image must print no larger than 3.15 x 3.15 inches (8 x 8 cms.) and the specimen image must print no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 inches). This does not indicate that there is a problem with your image file. Current browser and monitor technologies display all images at 72 dpi, causing images scanned at a higher dpi level to appear huge after attachment. The USPTO can process your image file, if you were able to save and print your image attachment from your image creating software in the proper dimensions prior to attaching the image to the form.

10. Similar to #8, above, be very careful in entering on the Validation Page the address to which the USPTO should e-mail confirmation of receipt of the electronic transmission of the form; otherwise, it will be delivered to "cyberspace." Please note, however, that where a SUCCESS screen is viewed after transmission, this confirms receipt at the USPTO, even if the separate e-mail acknowledgement fails to arrive for some reason.

11. Use the Download Portable button at the bottom of the Validation Page, to save all work prior to submission of the form. Image attachments are not saved as part of the Portable Form and images must always be re-attached to the form prior to submission.

12. Do NOT wait until the very last minute to attempt an electronic filing, particularly where there is a statutory deadline. The system is meant to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except from 12 midnight to 4 a.m. Sunday, when a form can be completed, but payment not made; or, if there is an announced scheduled outage), but there are, on rare occasions, unexpected glitches, either at the USPTO end, the filer's end, or just general problems with the internet. While a problem regarding a missed deadline may sometimes be resolved in the filer's favor, specifically where the filer can establish through a petition that the failure to file timely was clearly due to the unavailability of the TEAS site, the risk is simply too great--- file early!