Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) Home Page: RESPONSE FORMS

1. Response to Office Action Form
Use this form either to (1) respond to an Office Action that a Law Office examining attorney has issued (i.e., a regular letter; a Priority Action; an Examiner's Amendment/Priority Action (where a response is still required for the "Priority Action" portion), based on an application or Statement of Use; or (2) pay an additional fee. Do not use this form to respond after a final action has issued. To submit a request for reconsideration after a final action, you must use the Request for Reconsideration form, or file an appeal to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (see http://estta.uspto.gov/). Also, do not use this form to respond to any actions mailed after the mark is published and/or registered, if the action has specifically been issued by either the Intent-to-Use (ITU) or Post-Registration unit, rather than the law office examining attorney. Also, if the original application was filed under Section 1(b), Intent to Use, this form is not the correct method for now making use dates of record. You must file an Allegation of Use form.

If you have received an Office Action from an examining attorney regarding your application, you must respond within six (6) months of the mailing date of the Office action, or your application will be abandoned. If the Office Action is a "Priority Action," responding within two (2) months will give you priority handling; however, you do have the full six (6) month response period, if necessary). Your response must arrive on the USPTO server prior to Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, of 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 submit your response prior to Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, of the next regular business day and it will be considered "timely." You should respond to each point raised in the Office Action Form fully and completely.

2. Request for Reconsideration after Final Office Action Form
Use this form specifically to respond timely to a final refusal of registration based on an application or Statement of Use.
NOTE: Use this form only to file a Request for Reconsideration after issuance of a final Examining Attorney Office action and before the deadline for filing an appeal. The filing of a Request for Reconsideration does not extend the time for filing an appeal or other proper response to the final action. 37 C.F.R. §2.64(b). A Notice of Appeal is a different form that you must file separately to preserve your right to appeal the final refusal, if appropriate. See http://estta.uspto.gov.

If you file a Notice of Appeal concurrently with a Request for Reconsideration, your application will be referred to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) for processing of the appeal. The TTAB will (1) acknowledge the appeal; (2) suspend further proceedings with respect to the appeal (including the applicant.s time to file an appeal brief; and (3) remand the application to the examining attorney for review of the Request for Reconsideration. TMEP §715.04; TBMP §1204.

Also, do NOT use this form to respond to any actions mailed after the mark is published and/or registered, if specifically issued by either the Intent-to-Use (ITU) or Post-Registration unit, rather than the law office examining attorney. To access forms for filing a Statement of Use/Amendment to Allege Use and/or Request for Extension of Time to File a Statement of Use, click here.

3. Response to Suspension Inquiry or Letter of Suspension
Use this form to respond either to (1) a Suspension Inquiry; or (2) a Letter of Suspension. You must respond to any Suspension Inquiry within six (6) months from the issue/mailing date. Although not required, you may use this form to respond to an actual Letter of Suspension, to present arguments in favor of removal of the application from suspension. Applicant's election not to present argument during suspension will not affect the applicant's right to present argument later should a refusal, in fact, issue at a later point. If a refusal does issue, the applicant will be afforded six (6) months from the mailing or e-mailing date of that Office action to submit a response.
NOTE: Within this form, you may also enter additional data to satisfy an existing requirement(s) or other matter if appropriate; for example, to amend the listing of goods/services or enter a disclaimer.

4. Substitute Trademark/Servicemark Application, Principal Register
Use this form only if you have already filed an application with the USPTO and the examining attorney has issued an Office action that indicates that you used the wrong form initially. Specifically, this form should be used if you have a TRADEMARK for goods or a SERVICE MARK for services. This means that the applicant is using or intends to use the mark for which registration is sought in commerce for goods and/or services.

5. Substitute certification mark
Use this form only if you have already filed an application with the USPTO and the examining attorney has issued an Office action that indicates that you used the wrong form initially. Specifically, this form should be used if the mark for which registration is sought is used or is intended to be used by persons other than the applicant on designated goods and/or services to certify something; e.g., a particular regional origin of the goods; a characteristic of the goods or services; or that labor was performed by a particular group. Please note that a copy of standards that the applicant uses or will use to determine whether the goods and/or services will be certified must be submitted.

6. Substitute collective membership mark
Use this form only if you have already filed an application with the USPTO and the examining attorney has issued an Office action that indicates that you used the wrong form initially. Specifically, this form should be used if the mark for which registration is sought is, or will be, used to indicate that the user is a member of a particular organization. The applicant (i.e., owner) is normally the collective organization whose members use the mark. Please note that although the owner exercises control over the use of the mark, actual use of the mark is by members of the collective organization.

7. Substitute collective trademark/servicemark
Use this form only if you have already filed an application with the USPTO and the examining attorney has issued an Office action that indicates that you used the wrong form initially. Specifically, this form should be used if the mark for which registration is sought is owned by a collective entity and is, or will be, used by members of the collective entity. In addition, the applicant (i.e., the collective entity) must assert that it exercises, or will exercise, legitimate control over the use of the mark in commerce by its members.

8. Response to Intent-to-Use (ITU) Office action
Use this form either to: (1) respond to an Office Action that the Intent-to-Use (ITU) unit has issued after a mark has been published; or (2) pay an additional fee after a telephone or e-mail communication from ITU. Do not use this form to respond to an Office Action issued by either a law office examining attorney or a Post-Registration examiner. Also, do not use this form to file a Statement of Use; instead, you must file the specific Allegation of Use form. If you have received an Office Action from ITU regarding your application, you must respond within thirty (30) days of the issuance date of the Office action or prior to the expiration of the statutory filing period, or your application will be abandoned. Please refer to the Office Action to determine the proper response period. You should respond to each point raised in the Office Action fully and completely.

9. Response to Post-Registration Office action
Use this form either to (1) respond to an Office action that a Post-Registration examiner has issued; or (2) pay an additional fee related to a Post-Registration matter. Do not use this form if your application has not yet registered; otherwise, a different TEAS response form would be appropriate. If you have received an Office action from a Post-Registration examiner regarding your registration, you must respond within six (6) months of the mailing date of the Office action. You should respond to each point raised in the Office Action fully and completely.