If you have received an Office Action from an examining attorney regarding your application, either in the form of a letter or a Priority Action, you must respond within six (6) months of the mailing date of the action, or your application will be abandoned. (If it is a Priority Action, a response within two (2) months will give you priority handling; however, you do have the full six (6) month response period, if necessary). This means that your response must arrive on the USPTO server prior to Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on the last day of the response period- any problem with transmission will not excuse an untimely response. Should the last day of the response period fall on a Saturday, Sunday or U.S. Federal Holiday, you may then submit your response prior to Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, on the next regular business day. You should respond to each point raised in the Office Action Form fully and completely.

Whenever possible, the examining attorney will attempt to resolve all issues, but for the payment of fees issue, via a telephone call. If the only remaining issue is the payment issue, you may use the response form to make the proper payment, either by credit card, electronic funds transfer, or through an already-established USPTO deposit account.

Under this rule, "A person who is properly authorized to sign on behalf of the applicant is:

1. a person with legal authority to bind the applicant; or
2. a person with firsthand knowledge of the facts and actual or implied authority to act on behalf of the applicant; or
3. an attorney as defined in §10.1(c) of this chapter who has an actual or implied written or verbal power of attorney from the applicant."

The 60-minute period is not an "absolute" period; i.e., you do not have to complete the form, start to finish, within 60 minutes. If the USPTO's server does not detect any activity at all within 60 minutes, it will end your session at the 60-minute point. HOWEVER, at 54 minutes into your session, you will receive a pop-up window warning you that your session will expire in six minutes (it will actually provide the precise "end" time within the window, such as 11:29:14 EST). To "renew" your session, you simply need to click on the "O.K." button at the bottom of the pop-up window, and you will automatically get another 60 minute time period. If you do not click on the button within the remaining six minutes of the session, your session will completely end at the 60-minute mark, and you will be returned directly to the initial form wizard to start the process again.

Enter the 8-digit USPTO assigned serial number; e.g., 78658234.

Each separate international class of goods and/or services requires its own fee, even if the mark is the same. If your goods and/or services are properly placed in more than one international class, but you have not paid the filing fee(s) for all classes, you must now pay the additional fee(s) for all other classes to continue prosecution of those, if you wish to continue prosecution of the other classes. You will be able to designate whether the fee(s) to be paid are at the level for a TEAS Plus application, or a regular TEAS application. You will also be able to pay the required $50 fee per class if the examining attorney has determined that the application filed on the TEAS Plus form did not, in fact, satisfy all of the requirements for that type of application.

If the examining attorney has refused your mark for any substantive legal reason, you are entitled to submit arguments in support of registration. You should simply and completely address the points raised by the examining attorney in the Office Action. You are not required to provide case law support, although you may, as appropriate. If the examining attorney is convinced by your arguments, the examining attorney will withdraw the refusal(s). If not convinced, and assuming there are no other outstanding issues, the examining attorney will issue a final refusal. Your options at that point are 1) appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), an administrative adjudication board; or 2) not respond, which will lead to abandonment of the application. You may still be entitled to use this mark as your "trademark" or "service mark; however, you would not have the rights associated with a federal registration. You should seek the advice of an attorney experienced in U.S. trademark matters for a more complete explanation of anything in this form you do not understand or for any other legal advice relating to the use and/or registration of your trademark or service mark. The USPTO cannot recommend an individual attorney or law firm.

At the proper place in the form, you may attach image files of evidence that support the registrability of your mark; for example, dictionary excerpts, copies of relevant articles, web sites, etc. To attach anything as evidence, you must first scan the evidence into a JPG image file. For technical and security reasons, this is the only format that the Office will accept; attachments in any other format will be rejected. Once this is done, you can then click on the browse button at the appropriate place in the form to select the JPG image file(s) stored on your local drive that contains the piece of evidence. If you are submitting more than one piece of evidence, you must attach a separate file for each additional piece of evidence.

You must specify how many separate image files you need to attach. If you are submitting more than one piece of evidence, you must attach a separate file for each additional piece of evidence.

It is appropriate to add a new class of goods and/or services only if the goods and/or services existed in the original application, but were simply included as part of an incorrect class. An entirely new listing cannot be added through this form, because it would exceed the scope of the original filing. Any new class requires the payment of an additional fee of $325.00 per class. E.g., if the original identification was for "shirts, jackets, handkerchiefs" in Class 25, then Class 24, the proper class for "handkerchiefs," could be added.

Under certain circumstances, a filing basis may be changed, i.e., either amended, deleted, or added. See TMEP Section 806.03 et seq. and TMEP Section 806.04 et seq. for a complete discussion of the rules regarding changes in filing basis.

At the proper place in the form, you may attach, for each international class, specimen(s) showing the mark as used in commerce on or in connection with any item listed in the description of goods and/or services. This may be to replace a specimen already of record, or to submit a new specimen, either because the original application did not include a specimen or because a new class is being added, under a Section 1(a), Use in Commerce, basis. To attach the specimen(s), you will click on the browse button to select the JPG image file (the only image format that may be used for this form) stored on your local drive and that contains the specimen(s). Up to fifty (50) image files may be attached. The images may be in color, and must be in color if color is being claimed as a feature of the mark. NOTE: The specimen image is not simply the same as the image of your actual mark by itself. Instead, you must show how you are actually using the mark in commerce. For example, for goods, acceptable specimens would consist of scanned or digitally photographed tags, labels, instruction manuals, or containers that show the mark on the goods or packaging. Invoices, announcements, order forms, bills of lading, leaflets, brochures, publicity releases and other printed advertising material generally are not acceptable specimens for goods. Examples of acceptable service mark specimens are signs, photographs, brochures or advertisements that show the mark used in the sale or advertising of the services.

You can attach a scanned image, as multiple JPG image files, of the foreign registration certificate. A certified copy of the foreign registration is not required. If the foreign registration is not in English, you must also provide a translation of the foreign registration with the copy of the foreign registration. The translator should sign the translation, but need not swear to the translation. Submission of the copy of the foreign registration certificate is not required to receive a filing date; however, the foreign registration(s) must be in force at the time of filing of the U.S. application, and must be filed before the application may proceed to registration. I.e., the foreign registration must be "live" at the time the United States issues the registration based on that foreign registration.

Use this section to change the applicant's name; the applicant's address; the applicant's phone number; the applicant's entity type; the applicant's state/country of citizenship; and/or enter a new correspondence address or Email address.

If you want to change your mark, e.g., to correct a typographical error in the original submission, you may submit an amended version of the mark. However, not all proposed corrections are automatically accepted. The examining attorney will only permit the new mark after determining that the change is not a material alteration of the mark as originally filed. If, e.g., a completely "wrong" mark was inadvertently filed, the examining attorney will not accept a totally different mark. Even some minor "typographical" errors cannot be amended, because the nature of the change would still amount to a material alteration.

The examining attorney will determine whether any proposed amendment of the mark is acceptable. A change is not acceptable if it materially alters the character of the mark. The modified mark must contain what is the essence of the original mark, and the new form must create the impression of being essentially the same mark.

As a general rule, the addition of any element that would require a further search to determine whether a confusingly similar mark exists will constitute a material alteration. Also, deletion of matter from the mark can result in a material alteration. However, the deletion of non-distinctive matter may not constitute a material alteration. For example, the deletion of the generic name of the goods or services would not generally constitute a material alteration, unless it was so integrated into the mark that the deletion would alter the commercial impression. In some circumstances, even descriptive or other types of non-distinctive matter may be deleted, if the overall commercial impression is not altered.

You may not amend to a standard character mark if the deletion of a design element or the elimination of the special form would alter the commercial impression. Usually, the mere amendment from stylized lettering to standard character form will not represent a material alteration. An amendment adding an element that the applicant has previously registered for the same goods or services may be permitted. However, the addition of matter that the applicant has previously registered for different goods or services is not permissible. Any proposed amendment to delete previously registered matter from the mark will be evaluated as to whether the deletion would represent a material alteration of the mark, without regard to whether the matter to be deleted is the subject of an existing registration.

These general rules are subject to exceptions. Each case must be decided on its own facts. The controlling question is always whether the new and old form of the marks create essentially the same commercial impression.

If you are using, or intend to use, your mark in a stylized manner or with a design element, you must attach a JPG image file (the only format that TEAS accepts) showing an image of your mark. At the proper place on the form, you will be instructed to click on the 'Browse' button to select from your local drive the JPG image file. The image may be in black-and-white or in color, depending on what type of protection you are seeking. If color is an important feature of the mark that you wish to protect, you must 1) attach an actual color image of the mark; and 2) use the description of the mark field (under the Additional Statement section) to explain where the color(s) appear in the mark (e.g., "The mark consists of a bird with a blue body, a red head, and a yellow beak.").

If the applicant's address is outside the United States, you may wish to designate some person resident in the United States on whom may be served notices or process in proceedings affecting the mark. However, this is no longer required. The designation would serve the purpose of bringing a foreign party who takes advantage of the United States trademark registration system under the jurisdiction of the United States legal system. Any juristic entity may serve as a domestic representative.

A signed declaration is not required when originally filing the application. An application filed without a signature will be given a filing date, provided the minimum filing date requirements have been satisfied, namely, those fields designated with an asterisk on the application form. However, a signed declaration must be provided before the application may be approved for publication. Also, a signed declaration is required when certain changes are made in the application: 1) dates of use are added or modified; 2) a new or additional specimen(s) of use is submitted; 3) a claim of distinctiveness under Section 2(f), based on use, is entered; 4) a claim of distinctiveness under Section 2(f), in part, based on use, is entered; and/or 5) a new filing basis is added (Section 1(b), Section 44(d), and/or Section 44(e)).

You must provide a signed declaration if you are providing any of the following items as part of the preliminary amendment form: NOTE: These items are all highlighted on the response form by a preceding "#" symbol.

• new or modified dates of use
• new or additional specimen(s) of use
• claim of distinctiveness under Section 2(f), based on use
• claim of distinctiveness under Section 2(f), in part, based on use
• a new filing basis (i..e., if adding Section 1(b), Section 44(d), and/or Section 44(e))

(1) e-mailed to the proper signatory as a "hyperlink" (no "downloading" of a portable form is required). The signatory will sign and date the preliminary amendment declaration by affixing the "electronic signature," consisting of an arbitrary alpha-numeric combination placed between two forward slash symbols (e.g., /john smith/). The signed version automatically is returned to the original preparer, who can then complete the submission process to the USPTO.

(2) printed out and then mailed or faxed to the signatory, who will sign the preliminary amendment declaration in the traditional "pen-and-ink" manner, and then mail or fax the signed form back to the preparer. The handwritten signed version should then be scanned and re-attached as a GIF or JPG image file (the only image formats acceptable) to the original electronic preliminary amendment; the complete preliminary amendment can then be validated and filed electronically.

1. Deletion of an existing class or modification of the listing of goods/services within an existing class. You may not propose any of the other changes listed at Question #1 of the form wizard, namely, changing a classification number; adding/modifying dates of use;adding/substituting a specimen; and/or submitting a foreign registration certificate. Nor may you add a class(es) (form wizard question #5).
2. Insertion of an additional statement, for example, a disclaimer, a translation into English, the consent to register an individual's name. Amendment to the Supplemental Register is not permitted, however, even though that option will appear in the Additional Statement section of the form.
3. Submission of a better quality image or submission of a drawing that complies with U.S. drawing requirements. You may not amend the mark, even in a non-material way.
4. Correction of applicant or entity information, e.g., to provide applicant's country of incorporation or organization. You may not change the applicant/holder or address thereof.
5. Payment of additional fee (although the need for this perhaps does not exist, since adding a class(es) is not permitted.
6. Submission of a signed declaration, if you believe the original MM18 form was not properly signed.