ADVERTISEMENTS

On April 28, 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("PTO") withdrew its previous proposal (link here) to amend the Rules of Practice in Trademark Cases to require a request for reconsideration of an examining attorney?s final refusal to be filed through the PTO?s Trademark Electronic Application System (??TEAS??) within three months of the mailing date of the final action.

After receiving comments about the shortened deadline period in which to file requests for reconsideration, the PTO determined that the benefits that would be achieved by the shortened deadline did not outweigh the objections expressed by some commenters.

As for mandatory filing through TEAS, the PTO is now proposing an alternative rule requiring a fee of $50 for filing a request for reconsideration on paper. No fee would be required for a request for reconsideration filed through TEAS; however, a TEAS Plus applicant who files a request for reconsideration on paper would also be responsible for the fee for the loss of TEAS Plus status pursuant to §§ 2.23(b) and 2.23(a)(1)(i).

The PTO?s Notice can be downloaded here. Comments to the proposed rule must be received by June 27, 2008.

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