(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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