What to expect from our new trademark search system (and why we’re replacing TESS) The Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) has been a fixture of the USPTO’s information technology portfolio for decades. Those of us in the trademark community have grown accustomed to it, and perhaps even grown fond of it over the years. Maybe you have field tags and design search codes memorized, and you can formulate complex search strings to pull up the exact mark you’re looking for in a snap.
ID verification will be required for attorney sponsored accounts
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announces that beginning on January 20, 2024, all existing and new attorney support staff with an attorney-sponsored USPTO.gov account will be required to verify their identity to access trademark filing systems. The USPTO is making this change after discovering that some U.S.-licensed attorneys have sponsored accounts for individuals who are not directly supervised attorney support staff, and that many of these sponsored accounts appear to be shared by multiple foreign agents and attorneys. These actions violate the Trademark Verified USPTO.gov Account Agreement (Agreement).
First action pendency measures the average number of months from the date of application filing to the examining attorney’s first office action. The target it between 2.5 and 7.5 months from filing.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is announcing the date, time, and place of a public hearing that will be held by the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) on the USPTO’s proposed setting or adjusting of trademark fees pursuant to the USPTO’s fee setting authority under section 10 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). The USPTO will make its proposed trademark fees available—as set forth in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice—before the TPAC hearing. The public is invited to testify at the hearing and submit written comments regarding proposed trademark fees.
