Waiver of Certain Trademark Rules of Practice as a Result of the Shutdown of the Trademark Electronic Application System

All USPTO online systems, including the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS), have been restored as of December 28, 2015 following the major power outage at USPTO headquarters that occurred December 22, 2015.   In light of this emergency situation, the USPTO will consider each day from Tuesday, December 22, 2015, through Thursday, December 24, 2015 to be a “Federal holiday within the District of Columbia” in accordance with the description and regulations in this official notice posted here.

Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 2.148, the Director waives the requirements under 37 C.F.R. §2.22 (b)(1)(i)-(viii) and 2.23(b)(1)(i)-(viii) in applications based on TEAS Plus or TEAS RF to submit the identified communications “through TEAS” for the period of December 22, 2015 through December 27, 2015.  Communications submitted via alternative filing methods during that period will not incur the additional processing fee under §§ 2.22(c) or 2.23(c) of $50.00 per class, as set forth in § 2.6(a)(1)(v).

The Director also waives the requirement under 37 C.F.R. § 2.6(a)(5)(i) regarding applications for renewal submitted via alternative filing methods (“on paper”) between December 22, 2015 and December 27, 2015.  Further, the Director waives the requirement of 37 C.F.R. §2.6(a)(5)(ii) relating to filings for renewal as to the requirement for such filings to be “through TEAS.”  Thus, the applicable fee for all applications for renewal of a registration filed between December 22, 2015 and December 27, 2015 is $300.