Last month, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office did something it NEVER DOES, it issued a final rule that drops trademark fees for online application and renewal filings. The price reduction is intended to increase the number of electronic application filings, which will undoubtedly lead to savings for the USPTO (similar to how the IRS has been pushing electronic filing of tax returns for the past decade).

2015 Trademark Fee Reductions

The following fee reductions will go into effect on January 17, 2015 for applications submitted through its Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS):

• $50 fee reduction for filing a trademark application using the regular TEAS application form (dropping from $325 per class to $275 per class)
• $50 fee reduction for a TEAS Plus application (dropping from $275 per class to $225 per class)
• $100 fee reduction per class for a TEAS renewal application (dropping from $400 per class to $300 per class)

In addition to these application fee reductions, the fee for a new TEAS RF (the reduced fee category described in Section 2.23 of Title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations) for a request to turn an “extension of protection to the United States” under the Madrid Protocol (for international marks) into a U.S. trademark application will be reduced to $50 less than the regular TEAS application fee.

Keep in mind, these fee reductions are only for online applications, not paper applications.

The Takeaway

The reduction of trademark fees for online application and renewal filing is great news for startups, entrepreneurs, and small businesses who need to get a basic level of protection for their brands and intangible assets but don’t have big budgets.