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02/04/2010)
Removal of "Petition for Post-Registration Matter" form:
Due to some confusion about the proper usage of the "Petition for Post-Registration Matter" form and delays associated with incorrect filings, this option is being removed entirely. Petitioners are advised to use the general "2.146 Petition to Director" form for such petitions. Or, if wanting to file a Post-Registration amendment, be advised that the proper filing is the "Section 7 Request for Amendment or Correction of Registration Certificate" form.
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(new
12/31/2009)
"Preliminary Amendment" form name
change: Because of confusion as to when the TEAS "Preliminary Amendment" form may be used, the form is being renamed "Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to USPTO Office Action/Letter." This is to clarify that the form is appropriate not only to request a change to an application prior to examination (the scenario "traditionally" associated with a "preliminary amendment"), but also as a "workaround" to request a change to an already-examined application, where no other mechanism within TEAS currently exists. E.g., because the Allegation of Use form lacks a section to propose a change to the mark, this form could be used for that purpose (i.e., if the specimen being submitted as part of the Amendment to Allege Use shows a mark that differs slightly from what appeared in the original application, the mark must be amended so that the mark and specimen usage agree).
The name change to "Voluntary Amendment Not in Response to USPTO Office Action/Letter" has already been made in conjunction with the listing on the front page of TEAS, under the mouseover text for the category "Miscellaneous Forms," as well as on the associated form selector page when the "Miscellaneous Forms" option is clicked. However, on the form itself, the title will still appear as "Preliminary Amendment," only because a TEAS release later in 2010 will be required to make the change there. Also, a related change will be made in the display within the prosecution history portion of the Trademark Application and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) system, so that any filing of this form will result in an entry of "TEAS Voluntary Amendment." This change will have a "retroactive" impact, namely, any listing of "TEAS Preliminary Amendment" will automatically be changed to "TEAS Voluntary Amendment," even though the filing may have been made prior to the form name change.
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(new
09/12/2009) Accessing a
global form directly: The current design of the TEAS website allows you to select a specific global form offering from within one of the nine (9) overall categories. However, this then takes you to the front page of the global form, rather directly to the form you have selected. Unfortunately, at this point you must then make your selection again, using the pull-down menus associated with the five (5) categories (Intent-to-Use matters; Post-Registration matters; Petitions and similar matters; Madrid filings; and Miscellaneous). The reason for these "extra steps" is that the determination to redesign the TEAS front page was made much later than the initial design process of the global form. At a future point, these efforts will be coordinated, so that making a selection from within one of the TEAS top level categories will then provide direct access to the specific desired global form offering. A reminder that to determine which global form offering falls within one of the five (5) presented categories, you may view an overall listing from the global form front page, at: "For a complete listing of available forms within each category, click here.
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(new
09/12/2009) Proposing
other "global forms": On or about September 12, 2009, the USPTO introduced a new form that allows for the electronic filing of virtually any trademark document for which a TEAS form is not currently available. The new "global. form" allows the user to identify the type of document being filed by selecting from a drop-down list (e.g., "Response to Office action issued by the Post-Registration Unit" or "2.146 Petition to the Commissioner") and then uploading a document in either the JPG or PDF format containing the matter being filed.
Using this approach provides the same benefits of a "regular" TEAS filing, namely, electronic confirmation of receipt at the USPTO; entry of the appropriate prosecution history label in the Trademark Reporting and Monitoring (TRAM) database (viewable externally in the Trademark Application and Registration Retrieval (TARR) system); upload for viewing in the Trademark Document Retrieval (TDR) system; and automatic routing to the proper work unit.
However, such filings will not result in the automated upload of data into the USPTO databases, which is one of the primary benefits of true electronic filing, i.e., an actual TEAS form relies on tagged data elements that permit direct upload of data absent manual intervention, thereby avoiding data entry errors.
As such, the USPTO views this global form approach as an interim workaround, and it plans to develop at least a few additional TEAS forms covering some of the items that will initially appear on the drop-down list, based on overall filings levels for specific forms. Once a specific TEAS form is developed and placed in production, then that option would be removed entirely from the pull-down list of the global form, and only true electronic filing would then be possible for that form.
Note: Should a practitioner determine that a specific offering is missing from the global form list, the practitioner is encouraged to email eComments@uspto.gov, proposing therein a form title, the overall category for the type of filing, and a brief description for when the form would be used. The USPTO has already identified two forms for a later enhancement to the global form, namely, a "Request for a Duplicate Registration Certificate" form and a "Request for a Corrected Notice of Allowance" form. In the meantime, practitioners should FAX such requests to the Post-Registration Division (571-273-9500) and the Intent-to-Use Division (571-273-9550), respectively, for processing of these two specific items, until such time as the global form is expanded.
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