On April 30, 2016, the USPTO issued the April 2016 TMEP. The update includes precedential decisions issued since the October 2015 TMEP revision and also clarifies or memorializes existing procedures in certain areas. The policies stated in this revision supersede any previous policies stated in prior editions, examination guides, or any other statement of USPTO policy, to the extent that there is any conflict.
View April 2016 TMEP Highlights.
For a more complete listing of all sections with changes, see the “Index to Changes in TMEP April 2016” document, which is posted as part of the TMEP.
The April 2016 TMEP also includes an enhancement that links TMEP citations to the Code of Federal Regulations and the Trademark Act directly to an electronic version of the Trademark Federal Statutes and Rules (TFSR). This new electronic version of the Trademark statute and rules can also be accessed separately at https://tfsr.uspto.gov/.